Tails of doom
by Belletiger
Summary: A Misterious clan of foxes is after Tails because he's the key to revive their powerful leader. And they will do everything to have Tails with them, even meaning to brake his bound to Sonic. Can Sonic protect his best friend from this misterious clan?
1. Chapter 1

Tails of Doom.  
Chapter 1

Tails, the two tailed fox was sleeping in his bed peacefully when he began struggling under his covers. His forehead was sweating as he started to thrash about in his sleep.

dream scene

All Mobius was in flames and everywhere the eye could see was nothing but destruction, chaos and death. Tails was quivering in fear. He feared for his friends, his only family. He ran in every direction. Tails was sick of the strong smell of blood. Then, stopped running. In front of him were the bodies of Sonic, Amy, Shadow, Rogue, Knuckles, and all his friends. They were all dead, covered in blood.

"SONIC!" Tails screamed, rushing to his best friend. He tried to wake him up but it was useless, he was already dead. Tails quivered as he saw his hands covered with Sonic's blood. Then, he heard laughter. The laugher wasn't Eggman's, but it was still evil and vile.

"Poor little nibi-kit. Crying over the death of your dearest little friends," said the dark voice.

Tails' eyes widened in surprise and horror as he saw a tall shadowy figure before him. He couldn't see the face of the figure, but he realized it had nine tails. Suddenly, the dark figure grabbed Tails by the neck. Tails was having difficulty breathing as he was being suspended by the dark figure. He still couldn't see his face, only his red blood eyes.

"I am your new lord, little nibi."

Tails realized the free hand of the dark figure was now charging up an electric ball. Tails barely saw him move before the dark figure plunged the electric ball right into his chest.

End of the dream

Tails cried out as he fell from the bed and hit the ground, gasping for air. Sonic, his roommate, rushed over to his best friend.

"Tails? Are you alright?" Asked Sonic, worried for his fox friend.

"I'm all right, Sonic," he said. "It was just a nightmare." He was still quivering. He got up and went towards the bathroom. Sonic still looked worried.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"I'm fine," said Tails before closing the bathroom's door behind him.

Tails washed his face and looked in the mirror. He gasped as he could swear he just saw the dark figure from his dream in the mirror. Then, his eyes widened in horror as he saw dark marks on his neck and chest; the same places where the dark figure had strucked him. The little fox boy cringed away from the mirror and huddled into an even smaller ball, his knees drawn flush up against his chest.

"Whats happening to me?"

Meanwhile, very far away from there, in the dark city of Robotropolis, three figures were standing on the roof of a building, looking in the direction of the woods.

"So, He will wake up soon. I don't believe a nibi kit is our master's reincarnation," said the first figure.

"That's all written in the prophecy. As soon we get him, our master can be revived," said the second one.

"Are you sure we need to form an alliance with him?" Asked a female voice.

"If we want the Nibi kit, yes. After that, we can eliminate him."

"Heh, I love it when you say that word," said the first figure, licking his lips. "After all, I am eager for a bloodbath."

Two of the 3 figures vanished, leaving the third shadow alone. The shadow looked at the shining moon in the sky.

"At the next lunar eclipse, our master will be back." With that the shadow vanished as well.

To be Continued.

Well, I hope you the chapter of my first Sonic story. Next chapter will be revealed the identity of those 3 mysterious shadows.

Nibi two tails. 


	2. Chapter 2

Tails of doom

Chapter 2

It was night in Soleanna - the City of Water. One of the most popular places in the great capital was the Museum. Many historical relics were kept in there. A shadow was lurking in front of the museum. The only things that could be seen in the shadow were a pair of red eyes and sand floating around it.

One of the museum guards was in the video room, sleeping. He snored loudly and drooled in his slumber. When he opened his eyes, he fell off the chair in surprise. He gasped when he saw that none of the screens were showing any image.

"Whats going on?" The guard took his lantern and keys to check for the problem.

When he went downstairs to the hall, he found it odd that the hall was so quiet. He didn't hear his workmates' footsteps. He turned around, shining his lantern about...and gasped in horror when he saw his workmate's bodies lying on the ground. The bodies looked as if they had been crushed by some incredible force.

He turned around and stared to run to the phone but, tripped and fell to the ground. He looked at his feet and saw they were covered with sand. The guard now found himself staring at a pair of glowing red eyes.

"Die," whispered the shadow. Its voice was emotionless.

The guard screamed as he felt the sand around his ankle start to spread up his leg, growing and infecting until his body was covered in sand.

(CRACK! SNAP! CRICK!)

The sand dispersed, returning to the jar on the shadow's back. The shadow looked at the brutally crushed, broken body before leaving the museum.

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The next day, the captain of the Soleanna police walked out of the museum entrance, looking disturbed and disgusted from what he had seen there. "How... horrible... how..." He rubbed his stomach. Nearly most of his men had thrown up at the sight of the bodies. One look and they rushed outside. The gruesome appearance of the bodies really disturbed them. He shook his head. "Damn... who could do such a thing...?"

"Your orders, Captain...?" One of the policemen asked, looking a bit green.

The Captain rubbed his forehead. "All right, all right... send a message to the Soleanna Guards. Whoever attacked and killed these guys might be still in Soleanna... The Duke and his daughter need to be protected at all costs!"

"And the bodies...?" Another one asked.

The Captain sighed. "I don't know where to begin..."

"How about we take over your job for a while...?" Asked a female voice. The Captain turned around to see a white, female bat hovering above a red and black hedgehog with red eyes. She grinned. "Hi, I'm Agent Rouge the Bat and this is Agent Shadow the Hedgehog from G.U.N."

The Captain blinked. "You two are from Guardian Units of Nations? How did you guys get here so fast? The discovery of these bodies happened only two hours ago... no way G.U.N. could react that fast..."

"The Director of the Soleanna Museum contacted G.U.N. Seems that he has discovered something strange which you guys won't be able to solve..." Shadow said. "May we see the crime scene and figure this out ourselves...?"

Rouge smirked. "Forgive my partner here, he's... how shall I say this... a lone wolf... or a hog... whatever..."

The Captain nodded. "It's all yours... I'm leaving some of my men behind that haven't seen the bodies and taking the rest, including myself, to recover from the shock. I tell you, we never get this kind of murder around here..."

Shadow frowned. "What are you talking about?"

The Captain sighed as he walked away. "Take a look and you'll see..."

Rouge shrugged as she and Shadow walked into the Museum. "He looked pretty spooked... guess this isn't a normal murderer we're dealing with here..."

Shadow glanced around at the Museum entrance. "Soleanna, huh...? I've never been here before... What a... beautiful place..."

Rouge grinned. "So, I guess this place has taken your breath away, huh...? Not that I can blame you, it's certainly wonderful to be here... whenever I want to relax from doing G.U.N.'s dirty work or..."

"Playing games with Knuckles like driving him up the wall?" Shadow asked, giving off a small grin.

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Shadow making a joke...? I better call the press about this..." She nodded. "Well, sort of... Anyway, if I feel tired and want to take a holiday, I come here..."

Shadow glanced at a portrait of an old gentleman in royal garbs with a beautiful young girl at his side. "So, what can you tell me about this place...?"

"Soleanna, the City of Water. It has a constitutional monarchy. The primary industries are tourism and crafting precision machinery. The current Sovereign is Duke Soleanna, a widower. His wife sadly passed away many years ago. His daughter is Princess Elise The Third..." Rouge explained. "Soleanna is considered one of the few towns that hasn't been taken over by Dr. Eggman's empire for unknown reasons..."

Shadow rubbed his chin. "I see... so, this place hasn't been taken over by Dr. Eggman yet, huh...? No doubt he's the cause of the Museum's problem..."

Rouge walked over to a door. "Only one way to find out... this is the place..." She opened the door and gasped. "This is... not real..."

Shadow gently pushed Rouge aside and narrowed his eyes at the four, crushed bodies. "Were they even human before...?"

Rouge narrowed her eyes. "Shadow..."

"Sorry..." Shadow muttered as he walked over to the bodies. "From the look of this, I'm starting to think that the Doctor had nothing to do with these men's deaths... not even he could create a robot capable of crushing these guards to death without leaving a mess in this Museum..."

Rouge took a deep breath and nodded. "I... I agree..."

Shadow got up. "The question is... who did this...?" He narrowed his eyes. "Better question... what did he come for? I hardly think someone would come over to a Museum just to kill four night-time security guards..."

Rouge nodded. "That's right, Shadow. From what the report said, these four were killed so the murderer could steal one of the Museum's artifacts without any trouble. The bodies were discovered when the Director of the Museum and some of the guards came by this morning. When they saw the bodies, they alerted the police and quickly discovered that one of their artifacts was stolen..."

"Right... what was stolen anyway...?" Shadow asked.

"A book..." Rouge muttered.

Shadow's eyes widened. "A book?! Four lives have been lost just for one lousy book?!"

Rouge nodded. "I know, I know... a pretty odd reason for a killing spree, don't you think...?"

Shadow sighed as he glanced at the bodies. "Very odd..." He blinked as he spotted something near the bodies. "But, this one takes the cake..." He kneeled beside one of the bodies and scooped up something. He took a close look at it. "Sand...?"

Rouge blinked. "Sand?! What the heck is sand doing inside a Museum near dead bodies?!"

"As strange as it sounds, it could be a clue to the idenity to our murderer..." Shadow said, getting up. He looked at the other three bodies and nodded. "The killer has somehow murdered these guards by crushing them with sand..."

Rouge rubbed her chin. "OK... I really believe Eggman couldn't commit this... sure, he has an IQ of 300, but not even he can create a robot that can kill innocent people with sand!"

"Soleanna has a beach, doesn't it?" Shadow asked.

Rouge nodded. "Yes, it's called Wave Ocean, one of Soleanna's most popular attractions... why?"

Shadow glanced at the sand. "I'm going to take a sample of this sand to the beach and compare it... if it matches, then the murderer must be living in Soleanna. If not, the murderer must have already left Soleanna for his home, wherever that may be."

"I got it... we'll head ov..." Rouge started.

"NO! You stay here..." Shadow said, as he got up and poured the sand into an empty jar.

Rouge blinked. "Why...?"

"Remember, the killer stole a book. I want to know why..." Shadow said as he headed to the door. "Find out what the book is called and what it contains. Ask anyone who was able to read its contents before it was stolen. I'll contact you and you'll arrange a place where we can meet up..."

Rouge nodded. "OK... See you around..."

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"What... is... THIS?!" Doctor Eggman snarled as he walked into his hangar bay.

In Robotropolis, Eggman was dealing with his own problems when Robot Squadron 347 didn't report back after checking to see if there were any problems in his Egg Carrier hangar. Thus, he sent Squadron 137 and Squadron 643 to check up on them. They didn't report back after seven hours. Confused, Eggman went over to the Egg Carrier hangar to find something shocking.

His Egg Carrier was fine, it was the three robot squads that surprised him. Squadron 347 were melted, all that remained was a badge with their number on it near the puddle of gooey metal. Squadron 137 was frozen solid while Squadron 643 was smashed into pieces.

Eggman walked over to the 347 badge and picked it up. "Who could have done this? Sonic and his friends couldn't have this sort of power... Sure, Sonic could have turned Squadron 643 into scrap metal, but none of his buddies have the ability to freeze objects... nor to melt them! Do they have new friends?"

"Good guess, Doctor... however, we're no friends of your enemies..." Said a dark voice.

"And those robots of yours were funny, but they're freaking weak!" Said another. "I thought you were a (BEEP!) genius!"

Eggman whirled around to see three foxes standing at the entrance of the hangar. He was startled to notice that each possessed an extra tail like Sonic's best friend, Tails. In fact, they had more tails than Tails himself!

The first one stepped forward. It was a black-furred fox with five tails, wearing a black biker jacket with grey boots and gloves. "Hello, Doctor Eggman. I'm Dark, the Gobe no Kitsune!"

The second one was a white vixen with a facial expression as cold as her blue eyes. She wore a light blue kimono with a white tie and had four tails. "I am Snow, the Yonbi no Kitsune."

The third one was a three-tailed, red-furred fox with black rings around his eyes. He wore black gloves and boots with a black bandage around his forehead. He had a sadistic smile on his face. "And I'm Pyro, the Sanbi no Kitsune! You better remember that, you (BEEP!) failure!"

Eggman gasped. "Sanbi?! Yonbi?! Gobe?! That's three-tails, four-tails and five-tails! No way... you're from the Biju Clan?!"

Pyro chuckled. "Well, well, well... looks like the (BEEP!) Doctor is (BEEP!) smart! Congrats, you (BEEP!) wimp! You've got my (BEEP!) respect!"

Eggman stared at Pyro. "How on earth are you doing that?"

"You mean (BEEP!)?" Pyro asked. He jerked his thumb at Dark. "Our dear leader had that (BEEP!) eight-tailed fox make these strange noise everytime I say (BEEP!), (BEEP!) and (BEEP!) in case little kits might pick 'em up... Like I give a (BEEP!) toss anyway..."

Eggman sweatdropped. "I can see how annoying this will be..."

"Well, we tried soap, but he ate it..." Snow said.

Dark stepped forward. "So, you've heard of the Biju Clan, Doctor?"

Eggman nodded. "Yes, I've read about it in some books. However, it's listed as being a myth. According to the legends, your ancestors once served a nine-tailed fox. And not just any fox... a DEMON fox. However, this nine-tailed fox was destroyed and his clan of loyal followers were split into two. One half that still serves him while the other gave up hope on him and lives amongst other clans in peace."

Dark scoffed. "Well, as you can see, we're no mere myth. It's a true legend, Doctor. The clan is preparing something special and we need your help."

Eggman narrowed his eyes before he thought of something. "Wait a second! Are you here for that blasted hedgehog's friend, Tails?! Is Tails from your clan?!"

Snow shook her head. "Yes... and no... you see, the nibi child's ancestor was the one who led most of the foolish clan away from our true path... ever since then, every fox that wasn't born in the Biju clan... was a one-tailed failure. A major failure, in my opinion..."

"However, Tails as you call him, is very special... very special, indeed..." Dark said.

Eggman rubbed his chin. "How special is Tails? As I recall, the number of tails that each kitsune possesses is indicative of the level of their power. The highest level that a kitsune can ever reach is, as said before, nine tails! Tails has only got TWO, which means that he is weak. Why is he special?"

Pyro narrowed his eyes. "What the (BEEP!) do you care?! You're just a (BEEP!) loser who can't even get rid of a (BEEP!) hedgehog"  
"Silence, Pyro... allow me..." Dark said, stepping forward. "The nibi child is very important to us, Doctor. We wish no harm to him, but we need his help."

Snow nodded. "Yes... however, getting him will be difficult as he's got those ichibi with him as his friends..."

Eggman chuckled. "Ichibi, eh...? One tail..."

"Apart from the one-tailed members in our clan, we deem one-tails as nothing more than fools that will soon wake up from their nightmares into a more peaceful dream..." Dark said.

Pyro sighed. "A bit too (BEEP) dramatic there... also, (BEEP!) untrue about the (BEEP) nightmare part..."

Eggman growled. "Did you have to bring him here?"

Snow nodded. "Yes, sadly..."

"WHAT THE (BEEP!) DOES THAT MEAN?!" Pyro snapped.

"So, what are you here for? My help?" Eggman asked.

Dark nodded. "Yes, Doctor."

Eggman grinned. Even though he had no clue why Tails could be so important to them, he knew if he played his cards right, it could be a big advantage for him. "All right... what do you want from me? And what do I get for it in return?"

Pyro grinned. "You just help us by bringing the nibi kit to us... and in return..." He snapped his fingers.

(BOOM!!!)

Squadron 137 blew up into pieces, breaking out of their icy prison and falling onto the ground. Dark grinned. "Can you even guess...?"

Pyro licked his lips. "Sonic the Hedgehog will be... how shall I say this...? Sent straight to hell!"

Eggman laughed. He might dislike Pyro because of his colourful language problem, but he was sure that not even Sonic could overcome Pyro's firepower. Sonic and his friends would fall before Pyro at a snap of his fingers. "All right... we have a deal!"

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Rouge was sitting at one of Soleanna's cafes, sipping a cold soda while looking at a notepad and a file. "Interesting... very interesting..."

"There you are..." Said her partner's voice. Rouge smiled as Shadow walked over to her table and sat down. "Have you done your part?"

Rouge nodded. "Yes... have you?"

Shadow sighed. "I've been to Wave Ocean to check out the sand. As strange as it sounds, the texture of the sand differs from every beach sand in the world. That's what the researchers from G.U.N. said when I contacted them. For example, they told me that the texture of the sand is different from Soleanna's Wave Ocean to Station Square's Emerald Coast..."

"So, give me the heads-up before I do the heads-down and snooze..." Rouge said. "Is the sand from the crime scene from Wave Ocean?"

Shadow shook his head. "Wave Ocean's sand feels smooth while the sand from the Museum is rough... too rough. Almost as if it was made as weapon..."

Rouge smiled. "That's an amazing discovery, Shadow... especially as you were wearing gloves when you felt the sand..."

"I removed the gloves to do that, Rouge..." Shadow said, looking tired.

Rouge chuckled. "I figured that... so, our killer has left Soleanna, huh?"

Shadow nodded. "Yes... Looks like we have to leave Soleanna in order to catch this guy... it's not going to be easy... we don't know what he's capable of..."

"Apart from using spiky sand as a weapon?" Rouge muttered.

Shadow nodded slightly. "Yes..." He grinned. "It's going to be fun when we meet face-to-face..."

Rouge sighed. "Joy..."

"Now, what about your side?" Shadow asked.

Rouge shrugged. "Soleanna's CSI division has come and taken the four bodies away, as well as begun to investigate the mystery of the crime scene. I don't think they'll uncover much as they don't believe in the same kinds of things we do..."

"Oh, really?" Shadow asked.

"If you remember what we've through in the last few months, you would know what I'm talking about..." Rouge said, grinning. "Especially if we're dealing with some sort of cult."

"A cult?!" Shadow repeated.

Rouge nodded. "Yep... that book was found about seven years ago by one of Soleanna's greatest explorers... it's called Ritual of the Kitsune."

"Ritual of the Kitsune?!" Shadow repeated.

Rouge chuckled. "Well, it's one of their working titles, Shadow... believe it or not, the researchers at the museum had a very hard time trying to translate the words from this book. The language was very ancient and and nearly impossible to decipher. But, that didn't stop them from trying anyway..."

"How much have they translated...?" Shadow asked.

Rouge sighed. "Nearly 25..."

Shadow cringed. "It took them seven years to translate 25 of an ancient book, huh? If they continued to research it, I'm sure they'll reach 100 in 21 years..."

"Oh, you kidder, you..." Rouge muttered. "Anyway, it seems that the first few pages were written by some sort of priest from a tribe. The priest wrote that their master, the ruler of the world, was destroyed and would one day raise again through reincarnation. This fox was the highest and most powerful of them all... a nine-tailed fox that gained the power of a demon. And, he was very, VERY powerful..."

Shadow scoffed. "Oh, really? And how powerful was the demon fox from this fairytale?"

Rouge sighed. "It's more powerful than the Master Emerald and the seven Chaos Emeralds combined..."

"See? It's a fairytale..." Shadow muttered. "Because, NOTHING is more powerful than the Chaos Emeralds... NOTHING!"

Rouge rolled her eyes. "Just listen, will you? Anyway... it seems that this kitsune tribe split up into two groups. One group were still loyal to the demon fox while the other group didn't want to be any part of the tribe any longer as they saw the demon fox as a threat to life itself. So, they made peace with the other tribes and lived with them. The tribe that was loyal to the demon fox vanished without a trace..."

"Until now... what you're saying is that the killer is a kitsune from a tribe that wants to revive a demon fox?" Shadow asked. "They've lost their minds..."

Rouge smirked. "I agree... however, I'm sure this clan is very dangerous. I mean, look what our killer has done to the four security guards... the clan's powerdiffers depending on the number of tails each member has. If it's just a single, normal tail, the member will have to fight with weapons because they're the weakest and have no powers."

"I see. What if it's another nine-tailed fox?" Shadow asked.

Rouge shrugged. "Who knows... All it can say is that becoming a nine-tailed fox is very rare. However, having eight-tails can be almost as powerful as a nine-tailed fox."

"How powerful?" Shadow asked.

Rouge sighed. "It depends of the powers of the kitsune. Each Kitsune has its own power. The more tails they have, the greater is their power."

Shadow closed his eyes. "I see... Does that make Tails a kitsune, as well?"

Rouge nodded. "Yep... seeing as he's got two tails, he's a kitsune. In fact, maybe his ancestors were amongst those who left the tribe after the nine-tailed demon fox was destroyed..."

"Right..." Shadow said, glancing around. "Is that all?"

Rouge sighed. "Yeah... the rest of the 25 translation was boring rules and stuff that you would have in this village..." Rouge muttered. "The Director said that the rest of the book looked very interesting if they were able to continue deciphering anymore before the killer came..."

Shadow rubbed his chin. "I see. Well, the best thing for us is to find out what the rest of the book contains and bring this killer to justice. First things first, we need to know a bit more about the clan. Did you make contact with G.U.N. to see if they have any records on this kitsune clan?"

Rouge suddenly looked nervous. "Not yet, Shadow... but, I think we need to find Sonic..."

"Why? Something wrong...?" Shadow asked.

"You could say that..." Rouge muttered. "You've mentioned him before..."

Shadow blinked. "Who...?"

"A... kitsune..." Rouge muttered.

"Tails? You think Tails is part of this cult?" Shadow asked. "Rouge, I may not hang around with Sonic's friends a lot, but I know that Tails would never betray his friends!"

Rouge sighed. "I know that too, Shadow... but even though the Director and his researchers couldn't translate the words fast, they were able to copy the pictures from that book. And it seems that the book shows who the demon fox will be reincarnated as... guess who."

Shadow palmed his face. "I don't believe this... there's a picture of Tails inside an ancient book showing that his body could be the demon fox's NEW body?"

"We don't know..." Rouge said. "What we do is that maybe this fox clan has their eyes on him... we better go and warn Sonic and his friends before it's too late..."

Shadow snarled. "If I had a Chaos Emerald, I would have used Chaos Control to get us to that village in no time flat!"

"Well, we can't waste time searching for one of those emeralds... it's best that we head over there right now!" Rouge said. "We were able to get here quickly by G.U.N.'s teleporter. Too bad they didn't make a hand-held transporter for us..."

Shadow got up. "Let's hurry then! We've only got three days until we can warn Sonic about the fox clan!"

Rouge nodded. "Yes... I agree... let's... THREE DAYS?!"

"What? Do you actually think Soleanna is close to Knothole...?" Shadow asked.

Rouge slammed her head against the table. "Great... just my luck..."

Shadow grabbed Rouge's arm. "No time to complain now... let's go!"

Rouge nodded. "All right... I'm coming..."

Shadow growled. "I just hope we're not too late..."

To be continued.

I wanna give thanks to ninetalesuk for the scene of Shadow and Rougue in their investigation at the museum and for beta writing. Thanks pal!

Kitsune fox Gobi 5 tails Sanbi 3 tails Yonbi 4 tails Biju tailed beast

Preview

"STOP RUNNING AND FACE ME YOU (BEEP!)-CORWARD!"

"Gee, for someone with a short temper, you sure have a big dirty mouth."

"Who are you? You have more than one tail like me."

"I am Dark, like you Tails-sama, you're a special kisune. A very special one."

"SONIC!!"

"What is happening to Tails? How did he get a 3rd tail?"


	3. Chapter 3

Tails of doom

Chapter 3

Back in Robotropolis, Dark has just asked Doctor Eggman to show them the information that they needed to know about Sonic the Hedgehog in order to know what they needed to do to get Tails.

(CRASH!! BOOM!!! CRASH!!)

And much to Eggman's distaste, he didn't enjoy watching all his minions defeated at the hands of Sonic again. Watching all his greatest plans, all his greatest equipments and robots being tarnished by one blue hedgehog. "You have to thank Team Chaotix for filming all of this... as well as my robots that are currently taking a holiday thanks to me... in a volcano..."

Snow and Dark watched the videos without making expressions while Pyro... was sitting down and munching on popcorn. "Whoo.. fun (BEEP) fun stuff!"

When it was over, Eggman switched the lights back on and sighed. "Well...?"

Pyro burned away the popcorn bag and looked at Eggman. "You call yourself a (BEEP) genius? You've gotta be (BEEP) joking me! You're not just an idiot... you're a (BEEP), (BEEP) and a (BEEP) moron!"

Eggman glanced at Snow and Dark. "And to the more sensible members of the tribe..."

"WHAT?! ARE YOU SAYING I'M NOT (BEEP) SENSIBLE!?" Pyro asked.

Snow created a mallet from ice and held it above Pyro's head. "Yes..."

"I'll be quiet..." Pyro muttered.

"It's a miracle..." Eggman added.

Dark sighed. "Doctor, what Pyro was meaning to say is that it's a surprise that you didn't think of a way to get rid of this hedgehog's amazing speed before now. You could have destroyed his legs. One of most important rules of our clan is that sometimes our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness..."

"Don't you think I've tried that?!" Eggman snapped. "I've created robots that would target Sonic's legs to try and cripple him! I even created a purple gooey substance called the Mega Muck that's so strong, it would stop Sonic in his tracks! Problem was, they dissolved whenever Sonic came close while he was carrying one one of the seven Chaos Emeralds around..."

"You mean to tell us that the (BEEP) hedgehog has the (BEEP) Chaos (BEEP) Emeralds around him all the (BEEP) time?!" Pyro asked.

Eggman rubbed his eyes. "Any reason why you had to bring him along? I can have a peaceful conversation with just the two of you..."

Dark sighed. "Forgive me, Doctor... I didn't have time to learn the silence spell... And Snow forgot to bring the fire-proof rope and gag..."

"DON'T YOU (BEEP) DARE (BEEP) TRY!!!" Pyro snapped.

"Anyway, from what we can see, the Chaos Emeralds were always Sonic's trump cards..." Dark muttered. "So, we have to make sure that Sonic doesn't use them when he faces us..."

Eggman scoffed. "Oh, he won't have them now... they're always scattered around the world whenever Sonic or any of his friends uses all seven Emeralds at the same time. With or without the Chaos Emeralds, he's still strong!"

Dark grinned. "That's a shame, Doctor... if Sonic holds one of the Emeralds, one of us would be fighting him while the other makes sure he doesn't use the Emerald's awesome power..."

Eggman scoffed. "Good luck with that... that sounds so simple, but it'll be a walk in a park for Sonic..." He sat down. "So, who's the ideal choice for facing Sonic?"

"Pyro..." Snow said.

"ALRIGHT!!! LET'S GO AND KICK SOME (BEEP), BUTTS AND (BEEP), PEOPLE!!!"

"On second thought..." Snow muttered.

"I agree... I trust the ice vixen more than the hot-headed nitwit here..." Eggman said. "His anger will lead him to his grand defeat by Sonic!"

Dark sighed. "I trust Snow enough to make sure no one will touch the Emeralds. Pyro will simply deal with Sonic. A Sanbi is more than enough to deal with a one-tailed hedgehog..."

Eggman sighed. "Fine... but Snow's job will be useless... the Chaos Emeralds are still regaining their power. They could even regain their full strength at this very moment..."

"It's always good to be ready..." Snow said.

Dark nodded. "Yes... and while Sonic deals with Pyro, I shall talk to the nibi child so he can join us..."

Eggman laughed. "Join you?! Tails has been Sonic's closest friend for a very, very long time! Their bond is very strong! What makes you think he'll listen to you!"

"Because he's one of us!" Dark said. She turned and snarled. "And I'll make sure history doesn't repeat itself... I must not let that child feel the same betrayal our leader once did!"

Eggman blinked. "What...?"

"Come... let's start the party..." Dark said, walking away with Pyro and Snow.

Eggman stroked his chin. "Betrayed, huh? That means the ancient war isn't a myth... that means..." He chuckled. "Oh yes... let's see if she can destroy the strong bond of friendship that both Sonic and Tails possess... hahahaha!"

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Meanwhile, Sonic was standing on a tree branch with a serious look on his face. "It's been nearly two days since Tails had that nightmare... and right now, he getting strange markings all over his body... and he's telling me that it's nothing and everything is alright?! Man, Tails, I know you're not alright. If only you can tell me what's going on so I can help you..."

Amy Rose was nearby, watching Sonic. She sighed. "Sonic..."

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Tails was sitting near a lake in the forest, staring at his reflection. Just last night, Tails had found these strange black markings on his face, arms, and chest. It looked like somebody had painted on him. When everyone asked, Tails just said he was going for a new look in order to make sure no one worried about him. However, it didn't fool Sonic.

Even though he wondered why he got these markings, he was also worried about the nightmares he was getting. Most of them showed his friends dead and a mysterious tall figure with nine-tails standing over them. With these nightmares, Tails wasn't able to get a good night's sleep nor was he able to eat very well. And what's worst, that was just the beginning.

There were other nightmares that showed foxes with multiple tails like himself, all dead with the same nine-tailed fox. When he was standing over the dead bodies of his friends, Tails saw the nine-tailed fox had a cruel smirk on his face. However, this time while he stood over the foxes, he looked angry and sad. "You betrayed us... why? Why did you betray us...? I thought we were friends... how could you do this to me?! WHY?!?!"

Tails held his head and groaned as the voices of his nightmares echoed through his mind. "I have to do something... otherwise, I'll lose my sanity if things keep going like this..."

"I might help you with this, child..." Said a voice.

Tails whirled around to see a black fox that looked a little older than him. What shocked Tails was that the black fox had five tails. This was the first time that Tails met someone with multiple tails like himself. Tails took a step back. "Who... are you...?"

"The name is Dark, Gobi no Kitsune..." Said the black fox. "I am here to talk about your past, present and future, Tails-sama..."

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"And that's what happened..." Sonic said, walking through the forest with Amy. "Right now, something is wrong with Tails and he's not telling us anything!"

Amy nodded. She had asked Sonic what was bothering him and understood now that it was Tails. "I figured that Tails wouldn't go for a new look... it wasn't like him... just what is going on with him...?"

Sonic shrugged. "I dunno, but I'm not gonna sit around and watch him suffer!"

Amy smiled. "I agree, Sonic. Where are we going to anyway...?"

"To find Tails... he should be at the lake where couples usually go to..." Sonic said.

Amy's eyes glittered. "Oh, you're taking me there, Sonic? How romantic..."

Sonic sighed. "I knew it wouldn't last..."

However, Pyro was hiding in a tree, keeping a close eye on Sonic. He grinned. "Heheheh, it's show time..."

Sonic suddenly stopped, narrowed his eyes and glanced around. "Hmm..."

Amy blinked. "Sonic...? What's wrong?"

"Move it!" Sonic suddenly said as he grabbed her and leapt out of the way when a massive explosion came out of no where.

"What was that?!" Amy asked as Sonic placed her on the ground when they were at a safe distance.

A burst of flames appeared where the explosion took place and a figure slowly appeared in the middle of the flames. "Well, well, well... you're really are (BEEP) fast if you were able to escape my deadly explosion..."

Amy's eyes widened. "T...Tails...?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "It's a fox, all right, Amy... but it's not Tails!"

"Correct!" Said the figure as the flames went out to reveal a red fox with three tails and a blood lust expression. "The name is Pyro... and I'm here to make a meal out of you... a (BEEP) fried hedgehog! I bet your blood tasted good as gravy..."

Amy frowned. "What... a freak!"

"Should also add a psycho, Amy..." Sonic said, taking a step back. "So, you wanna fight, huh?"

Pyro grinned. "Of course... allow me to warm things up a bit..."

Sonic grabbed Amy and quickly ran off as Pyro snapped his fingers to create another explosion. "Missed me!" Another explosion, but he missed. "Missed me again!" Another explosion, nothing. "Strike three, you're outta here!"

Pyro was loosing his cool. "WOULD YOU STOP RUNNING... AND FACE ME, YOU (BEEP) COWARD!!!"

Sonic placed Amy on the ground and glared at Pyro. "Amy, either hide somewhere to be safe or get the secret weapon!"

"What secret weapon is that, Sonic?" Amy asked.

"Simple... a bar of soap!" Sonic said, grinning. "This guy has a real dirty mouth!"

Pyro fumed. "THAT'S IT!!! YOU'RE TOAST, YOU (BEEP) HEDGEHOG!!!!!"

Sonic speed over to Pyro, knocking into the red fox's stomach. "Try it, mouthy!"

Snow stood in the trees, not showing one sight of emotion at the upcoming battle. "It's almost time... now, we shall see if Sonic has a Chaos Emerald or not. If Eggman is right, then we must think of a new plan... to trick these fools into getting the Emeralds for ourselves..."

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Tails stared at Dark, confused. "What?! What do you mean about my past, present and future!?"

Dark closed her eyes. "Believe it or not, you're a very special kitsune, Tails-sama. You were born with two tails, thus showing how much power you have."

Tails blinked. "Power...?"

Dark nodded. "Yes. Every kitsune that are born with a single tail and desire to become stronger will spend many years training until they gain an extra tail like myself. I've spent a very long time to gain five tails..."

"I... I don't understand..." Tails said, stepping back.

"Tails-sama, you have more power than your blue hedgehog friend. You even have more power than a Chaos Emerald!" Dark said. "When he learns about this power that you possess, he'll start to fear you and soon, abandon you..."

Tails narrowed his eyes. "Sonic will never do that! He never abandons his friends!"

Dark sighed. Her fears came true, Tails was still loyal to Sonic. Eggman was right, she can't expect Tails to turn against Sonic just like that. Looks like it'll have to take some time. And she can't waste too much time otherwise, the same mistake that her old leader made will come back to haunt them. "You must understand, Tails-sama. Even if that's true, weren't you bullied by other animals for having an extra tail?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah, and that was before I met Sonic!"

"And how did Sonic react when you first met him? Did he treat you like trash like the other animals treated you...?" Dark asked.

Tails smirked. "He treated me like any others! He treated me like a friend! And thanks to him, I've gotten stronger! Believe me, if you know about my past, present and future... then you would know how much of help I've been to Sonic, Knuckles, Amy, Cream and everyone else!"

Dark sighed. "Tails-sama, I'm trying to save you from the pain of betrayal that you'll recieve when your friends learn about your hidden power. Even Sonic will fear you and will question your loyalty to him."

Tails frowned. "You..."

"When the day comes and you feel alone, you're welcome to join our clan... the Biju clan..." Dark said, turning around and started to walk away.

Tails crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Thank you, sir..."

Dark stopped and chuckled. "Oh, yes... I mustn't forget... I'm a vixen..." And walked away.

Tails' jaw dropped. "No way... she's... HE'S lying! Dark has a deep and evil voice that sounds male and looks male! How in the world is she a vixen?! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

(BOOM!!!)

"(BEEP!) missed again?! I (BEEP!) hate you!!!"

Tails blinked and his nose twitched. He can smell something burning. He turned around to see smoke coming from a few meters away from him. "What? What is going on now...?"

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"YARGH!!!" Pyro screamed, falling onto the ground after Sonic used a Homing Attack on him. "YOU'LL (BEEP!) PAY FOR THAT!!!"

Sonic landed on the ground, smirking. "Sorry, don't have any cash with me..."

Amy cheered. "Yeah! Go, Sonic! Go!"

Snow sighed. "Perfect... looks like I'm not needed after all if he can easily beat Pyro without a Chaos Emerald..."

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BWAHAHAHAHA! BURN! BURN YOU BEEP BEEP BEEP! BURN!" Pyro laughed insanely, flinging fireballs randomly and causing tremendous explosions to shake the ground as he made the air combust again and again and again in his attempts to destroy Sonic.

The poor trees nearby had been burnt to cinders from the flames or shattered by the explosions nearby, and the ground had been charred barren by the burn.

And Sonic stood there, yawning and tapping his feet as the flames and blasts continued to miss him totally, only having to shift his body a couple of inches every now and then to avoid the attacks.

"yawn Come on, I don't have all day," the blue hedgehog complained. "Are you gonna hit me or not?"

"DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEE MOTHERBEEPER!" Pyro screamed, his eyes filled with psychotic bloodlust.

The ground underneath Sonic's feet shook, cracked, heated up, and exploded as a tremendous column of flame erupted from the ground, and another, and another, and another, and…Sonic tapped Pyro's shoulder.

"Mmm, I'll give you points for style, but you've _gotta _work on your aim, man."

"WHA-mmph!" Pyro broke off, gagging as Sonic rammed the bar of soap Amy had just handed him into the fox's mouth. Pyro collapsed, twitching and foaming at the mouth as the soap got stuck in his teeth.

"There, isn't that much better? The air's already so much clearer!" Sonic told Amy jokingly, causing her to giggle.

Pyro spat out the bar, which almost hit Sonic's head, and got back to his feet, eyes burning. Literally. There were, like, these little flames burning in his pupils.

"RRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he roared melodramatically, flaming aura bursting to life around him as the ground shook and convulsed.

"Oh great, another one of those guys who watches too much anime," Sonic complained. He picked up Amy. "Hang on Ames, this should just take a sec."

"Hooray! Sonic's touching me!" Amy squealed joyfully as Sonic began running, outracing the fissures that tore up the ground and sent chunks of dirt and stone flying as molten lava welled up from deep beneath the earth and overflowed throughout the battlefield. Pyro, still on fire, cackled madly as he levitated above the lava.

Sonic, using his awesome jumping skills, hopped off one of the sinking chunks of rock and leaped into the air, rebounding repeatedly off several slabs of stone and dirt that had been thrown up by the lava's emergence, his feet not sticking to any surface longer than a second, and landed in the burnt, dead branches of one of the trees that had taken a beating from Pyro's flame attacks and was pretty much a solid mass of charcoal now, an island in the sea of lava.

"Okay Amy, wait here, will ya? This shouldn't take a sec."

"Okay!" Amy said happily, too ecstatic that Sonic had carried her to mind.

Sonic took a running start and leaped out of the treetop, arcing high into the air above the burning lava field. Curling into a ball in midair, he started spinning at supersonic speed before shooting down at Pyro, surrounded by an aura almost as blue as he was, homing in on the deranged fox and smashing into his chest with a solid Homing Attack.

"Guoooohhhhh!" Pyro wheezed, spitting out blood, teeth, and bits of soap as he flew back from the impact of Sonic's attack, his aura dispelled. He slammed into the trunk of another dead tree and was plastered there for a moment, very dazed.

"Hmph!" Sonic landed for a moment on a chunk of rock rising from the lava so small he could only balance on it on his toes. "Not such hot stuff now, are you? Let's see if we can't clean up this mess you made!"

He leaped into the air again, curled into a ball, but this time spun around and around in a circle, leaving blue streaks behind him as he moved so fast he generated a tornado.

The tornado spun and generated wind which flowed throughout the lava field, cooling and hardening the molten rock and also blowing back Amy's quills.

"Wow! Awesome!" the fangirl chirped enthusiastically.

The tree Pyro was plastered to toppled to the ground, knocking the fox off and causing him to land face-first in the cooled lava. "Ugh!"

"All right, now that we're through with that," Sonic said, landing again. "Let's end this!"

He dashed forward at super speed, planning to kick Pyro into the next kingdom…when he tripped on the patch of ice Snow had just formed discreetly in front of him, causing him to lose control and tumble end over end, smashing his head into the base of the toppled tree and get it stuck there, knocking him out cold. The white fox sighed in relief and went back behind the tree where she was hiding.

"There, I've practically hand-delivered the hedgehog to Pyro. If he can't take him like this, he really is the most incompetent of us all."

"gasp Sonic!" Amy screamed. "Hold on, I'll save you!" She leaped out of the tree…

Only for the back of her dress to get caught on a branch, jerking her to a stop in mid-fall and leave her dangling helplessly above the ground.

"Okay, this is embarrassing."

"Uhhh…what happened?" Pyro moaned, recovering and getting to his feet. He blinked, seeing Sonic's head stuck in the roots of the nearby toppled tree. "Huh? Did I do that?" He started laughing nervously and boastfully. "Wahahahaha! I must be stronger than I thought!"

"Whoa, what happened here?" Tails wondered as he ran to the edge of the hardened lava field.

"It looks like a volcano erupted--gasp Sonic!" Tails could quite clearly see, several meters away, his hero with his head stuck in a tree and struggling to pull it out, a crazy-looking red fox with multiple tails like that Dark vixen coughing and choking from laughing so long. "I've got to help him!"

"What about me?!" Amy yelled.

"Oh yeah, you too."

"Curses!" Snow hissed. "He wasn't supposed to show up!"

"Now, it's time to finish this BEEPer!" Pyro crowed, raising his hands and forming huge fireballs in each one. "Prepare to be barbecued!"

"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Tails cried, running in what felt like slow motion towards the cackling Pyro. He was nowhere nearly as fast as Sonic, there was no way he could make it in time. He despaired, certain that his best friend was about to die and there was nothing he could do about it…

When without warning, a third tail, the same color as his other two, sprouted abruptly from his rear. Tails skidded to a halt, feeling a strange power welling up from inside him. He threw back his head and screamed, his body flashing as the winds began blowing all around him, forming a cyclone.

"Buh?" said a confused Pyro, the wind blowing his flames out. "What the BEEP-"

Sonic pulled his head out of the tree and blinked. "What in the...?"

"Tails?! How are you..." Amy asked before the wind blew her off the tree and dropped her beside Sonic. "OW!!! Never mind..."

Tails released the cyclone, sending it flying towards Pyro. The red fox screamed as the cyclone whirled around him, cuts appearing on his body from the wind slashes. Before something else happened, the hurricane was covered by darkness and Pyro vanished.

"What in the world...?" Sonic whispered, helping Amy up from the ground. First of all, a crazy fox came out of no where and attacked them for no reason. Then, Tails came out with a wind attack AFTER gaining a third tail.

Tails was confused as well, staggering on the ground. "S...Sonic... what's... happening... to me...?" He fell to the ground, unconcious.

"Tails!" Sonic called out, rushing over to Tails' side.

Amy shook her head. "Sonic, what's going on?! What is going on to Tails?! How can he gain a third tail AND use wind attacks?!"

Sonic picked Tails up in his arms. "I dunno... but we better get him back to Knothole and heal him up! If I'm right, that psycho Pyro must be involved with Tails' problem!"

Amy nodded. "All right!"

Sonic stared at Tails. "Hold on, buddy... your gonna be all right..." He looked up and narrowed his eyes. "Pyro... the next time we meet, your gonna answer a lot of questions!"

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At Robotropolis, Pyro was taking his loss very well...

"ARGH, (BEEP!) IT ALL!!! (BEEP!) (BEEP!) (BEEP!) (BEEP!) (BEEP!) HOW?!?!" Pyro screamed. "HOW COULD I BE DEFEATED BY A BRAT WHO JUST GAINED A THIRD TAIL?! HOW?!!?"

Snow rolled her eyes. "Relax, Pyro..."

Pyro snarled. "Relax?! Relax?! My pride!!! MY (BEEP) PRIDE WAS RUINED BY A (BEEP!) HEDGEHOG AND A (BEEP!) KID!!!"

Dark stepped out of the shadows. "Be calm, Pyro... what you've done has helped us in many ways. First of all, we now know that Sonic doesn't have the Chaos Emeralds yet."

Snow nodded. "Correct... and even if Sonic does have one, he wouldn't carry that around with him all the e..."

Pyro snarled. "So, all of this was a (BEEP!) waste?!"

Snow shook her head. "Nope... the young kit has evolved, remember? Thus, taking a step closer of becoming our leader again and having all his so-called friends abandon him..."

Dark nodded. "Correct... they'll soon fear him and then, Tails will come to us by his own will..."

"That's right..." Said a new voice, also cold and uncaring. "That way, history will not repeat itself as it has done to our old leader..."

They all turned around to see a yellow fox with red eyes and SEVEN tails. This fox was carrying a jar on his back and a book in his arms. Dark smiled. "Suna, you've returned..."

Suna walked over to Dark. "I finally got what we need... from Soleanna's museum, the Ritual of Kitsunes... the humans are weak... can't believe they survived this long..."

Dark closed her eyes. "Yes... once our leader comes back, we'll teach those how it feels like to be betrayed..."

"What about the Chaos Emeralds?!" Pyro asked. "We need about four or five of those (BEEP!) jewels in order to complete the revival! And neither (BEEP!) side has a single (BEEP!) one of them!"

Dark glanced at Pyro. "Isn't it obvious...? They'll go and search for those Emeralds... we'll send some of our people to follow them to see if they're collecting the Chaos Emeralds... and if they do, they'll be there to grab it and get it back to our village..."

"That is if they can outrun that (BEEP!) hedgehog!" Pyro muttered.

Snow glanced at Suna. "Did you left Soleanna without leaving a trace...?"

"No... should I...?" Suna asked.

Snow shrugged. "Well, whatever you've done, you might bring in those strange human army called G.U.N. Eggman told us to watch out for them..."

"Why...? Why should I worry about some weak humans...?" Suna asked.

Pyro scoffed. "Only the (BEEP!) genius have the answers! We better (BEEP!) ask him and find out..."

Dark shook her head. "Later... first of all, we must return back to our village and warn Arcana-sama. Once we've done that, phase two of our plan will soon start..."

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TO BE CONTINUES...

Preview

"Aren't you listening to me?! Tails is not a demon fox!!! I known him for a long time!!!"

"Then, how do you explain about the extra tail and the wind attacks he used?!"

"I thought you were my family... but I see I was wrong... very wrong..."

"Tails, WAIT!!!"

"Rouge, I found a Chaos Emerald... now we can get to Knothole right away."

"Before you do, Shadow... I've just recieved the information that we need about the Biju clan... and it's about a war long ago that made them our enemies..."

A/n: well, I hope you guys liked this chapter as much I did,.

So, what do you think about Tails getting a 3rd tail? Next chapter more action and the kitsune will strike once more. This time, Pyro will be out of action

Pyro: YOU GOTTA (BEEP) JOKING ME!!

Ignoring Pyro Anyway, I wanna thank to Ninetailuk for the beta writing, and to Jeremy for writing the battle scene. Thanks guys! Without you, I couldn't work in this story !

Pyro: Please, review.

A miracle! he didn't curse!

Pyro: (BEEP) you!!

Err...never mind.


	4. Chapter 4

Tails of doom

Chapter 4

Eggman groaned as the 30th robot was melted right before his eyes. His newly-built Robot Squadron 864 and 677 were being melted down by a certain red-furred, three-tailed pyromaniac moronic fox.

"My machines... and I spent nearly two hours making them..." Eggman groaned.

Pyro snarled. "I had to take out my (BEEP) (BEEP) (BEEP) anger out on someone!!!!! Since you're just (BEEP) flesh and (BEEP) bones, I have to take it out on your (BEEP) robots!!!!!!!"

Eggman sighed. "He seems happy..."

Snow was nearby, shaking her head. "He's just been defeated by the child we were looking for, Miles Prower, that's all..."

Eggman nodded. "Right..." After a moment of silence, he glanced back at Snow. "I'm sorry... I think my hearings going... did you say MILES "TAILS" PROWER beat that lunatic...?"

Snow nodded. "Yes."

Eggman glanced at Pyro and... "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Pyro fumed. "IT'S NOT (BEEP) FUNNY!!! IT'S NOT THAT (BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP) FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Snow sighed. "Doctor... Pyro was beaten by Tails because he grew an extra tail..."

Eggman stopped laughing and glanced back at Snow. "Tails grew an extra tail?! Would that change his nickname? No, because three tails is still more than one…hmm…"

Snow nodded. "Yes... he now has three tails. And the child has unlocked the elemental powers within... wind!"

Eggman stroked his chin. "I see... kitsunes can become stronger if they grow an extra tail, right...? Seeing as Tails has the power of wind on his side after getting an extra tail, imagine the powers he'll get after growing NINE tails!"

"That is correct, Doctor..." Snow said. "However, Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't possess a Chaos Emerald as you warned us he might…Which means we need your equipment to locate the seven Chaos Emeralds..."

Eggman chuckled. "Very well... very well... just promise me one thing..."

Snow nodded. "Of course... what is it...?"

"STOP BLASTING MY MACHINES TO PIECES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Eggman roared.

"Done!" Snow said, glancing at Pyro.

Pyro hissed. "Man... I don't get any (BEEP) fun..."

"Fun, you say...?" Eggman scoffed. He glanced around and frowned. "Where is your friend...? The black fox..."

"You mean Dark?" Snow asked. "She has returned to our clan with another member that you've yet to meet, Doctor. It's personal business, you must understand. However, she has ordered me to help you locate the seven Chaos Emeralds..."

Eggman stroked his chin. "Do you need ALL seven Emeralds in order to revive this ultimate fox?"

Snow shook her head. "No... either four or five Chaos Emeralds will do in order to awaken our lord once more. However, we still need to collect the remaining Emeralds so that our enemies won't have the advantage..."

Eggman chuckled. "They already have... it's called the..."

"Master Emerald?" Pyro spoke up. "Yeah, yeah... we already know about the (BEEP) gem..."

Eggman frowned. "Did Dark leave that buffoon behind to help me with the Chaos Emeralds hunt...?"

"No... he would just bother her if she had taken him with her..." Snow muttered, walking out of the room.

Eggman chuckled as he followed her. "That's true..."

Pyro was left behind with no robots to melt. "THAT'S NOT (BEEP) TRUE!!! I'M NOT A (BEEP) BOTHER TO (BEEP) HER!!!"

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5 seconds later...

"DARK IS A GIRL!?!?!?" Eggman yelled in shock.

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Sonic sat near Tails' bedside, staring at his young friend as he slept. "Tails..."

Sonic was able to get Tails into Knothole without anyone seeing the extra tail he'd grown. He had only told Princess Sally Acorn, Bunnie Rabbot, Antoine D'Coolette and Rotor the Walrus about how he and Amy were attacked by Pyro and how Tails saved the day by gaining a third tail and using wind powers.

He soon regretted it when he saw Antoine's look of disgust at Tails' sleeping form and a worried expression came to Sally's face.

"Is she thinking about that dumb old story about some giant monster fox or something that nearly destroyed the world or something like that?" Sonic wondered. "Naw, that's just a story…then again…a lot of the other stuff I've encountered were supposed to be just stories too…hmm…this can't be good."

"Mr Sonic?" Came a young, timid female voice. Sonic turned around to see Cream the Rabbit entering the room while carrying her Chao friend, Cheese. "Is Mr Tails okay?"

Sonic smiled. "He's okay, Cream. He's just taking a nap..."

Cream walked over to Sonic's side. "That's good... but..."

"What is it?" Sonic asked. "You... you didn't just come here to check up on Tails, right...?"

Cream nodded. "Yes... Sally wants to speak to you... she said it's important..."

Sonic sighed. "All right... Cream, Cheese... please stay with Tails... I promise I'll come back after I'm done."

Cream nodded. "OK!"

"Chao-Chao!" Chimed Cheese.

Sonic walked out of the hut, fiddling with his gloves. "All right, Sally... what have you found...?"

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"Lord Arcana...both the book that you wanted and our lord's reincarnation have now been found..." Suna said as he and Dark kneeled before a white curtain. "Now all we need are some Chaos Emeralds to begin the ritual."

Behind the curtain was a fox known as Arcana, reading the book that Suna had stolen from the museum. He looked pleased as he closed the book. "Now that the book is back with us, our master Kyuubi will come back at full power!"

Dark nodded. "Yes... and thanks to Pyro, the young child has received his third tail and unlocked his hidden power... which means he'll soon come to our clan by his own will..."

Arcana smiled behind the curtain. "Yes. The sooner he joins us, the better. We'll be able to revive his memories from his past life..."

Suna looked up. "Lord Arcana, is there anything else you want us to do?"

The fox moved around behind the curtain, his silhouette showing off EIGHT long tails. He chuckled. "Actually, there is one thing you can do for me... Pyro and Snow have been left behind with Doctor Eggman to find the seven Chaos Emeralds, right?"

Dark nodded. "Yes... we only need four or five Emeralds to complete the revival, but we'll collect all seven to make sure our enemies will lose."

"Yes... we must make sure that this plan doesn't fail..." Suna muttered.

"Remember, there IS one thing that may prevent us from reviving our lost leader..." Arcana said. "The Master Emerald..."

Dark cursed under her breath. "Of course... Lord Arcana, are you suggesting that Suna and I should capture the Master Emerald?"

Arcana chuckled. "Capture it or, better yet, destroy it..."

Suna narrowed his eyes. "Destroy it? If we destroy the Master Emerald, our advantage over our enemies will lower a little..."

Dark grinned. "Yes... same goes for our enemies... with the Master Emerald shattered; they won't stop us from using the Chaos Emeralds..."

Suna nodded. "Of course... my lord, where's the Master Emerald?"

"Upon the ancient floating landmass known as Angel Island..." Arcana said. "It is guarded by the Echidna Clan..."

Suna hissed. "Echidna... clan...? It's that clan who helped the enemy King, right?"

Dark nodded. "Yes... how dare they possess that power that would kill our master again like they did 3000 years ago..."

Arcana sighed. "Be careful... the echidna guardian of the Master Emerald is known as Knuckles, good friends to the blue hedgehog and our chosen fox. While the blue hedgehog possesses speed and our chosen fox possesses flight, Knuckles possesses phenomenal strength. He's not a force to reckon with..."

Dark bowed. "We'll do our duty, Lord Arcana. We shall return... with the Master Emerald... whole or in pieces..."

Both Suna and Dark vanished as Arcana opened the book again to a page filled with the picture of a giant nine-tailed fox standing above mountains. "Soon, Lord Kyuubi... you'll be back with us..."

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Sonic was holding Antoine in the air. He was very angry. "ARE YOU DEAF, YOU IDIOT?!!? TAILS IS NOT A DEMON!!!"

Before Sonic entered the hut, Amy told him that everyone in Knothole knew about Tails getting an extra tail. And what's worse, nearly everyone was starting to distrust Tails. Sonic wanted to know who started the rumor in the first place... and it turned out that it was Bunnie, Rotor, Antoine... and Sally.

Bunnie gulped. She was a strong fighter, but she can't help but wonder how her strength would match up to Sonic's speed. "S...Sugarhog... put him down..."

Sonic dropped Antoine to the ground, glaring at Sally. "How could you?! How could you tell everyone about what happened?!"

Sally bowed her head. "I'm sorry, Sonic... but everyone had the right to know... I mean, the fire attacks from yesterday were too hard not to notice. You must understand that it was them who think Tails is a demon, not us..."

"I have a feeling that you THINK that Tails is a demon as well, don't you?!" Sonic snapped. "Because he isn't!!!"

Antoine got up. "And how would you explain the third tail, hmm?"

Sonic narrowed his eyes. "Listen to me very carefully... the story of the giant nine-tailed demon fox... is just... a... LEGEND!!!"

Sally stepped forward. "But, Sonic... legends are based on something real! My father used to tell me about a giant, nine-tailed fox that was really powerful! With just a wag of its tails, it could create tsunamis and level mountains! It is said that he is the King of Demons and was as powerful as the Master Emerald and all seven Chaos Emeralds together!"

Sonic snarled. "So what!? That doesn't mean that Tails is the same jerk from a lame legend! It's a fairytale! Besides, he's been fighting alongside us for a very long time! He saved a whole freakin' city from Eggman's missile attack!!! How can you forget that!!!"

Rotor bowed his head. "I know that, Sonic... but... you can't help but feel suspicious when Tails just grew an extra tail AND a fox that used fire attacks had three tails too..."

Sonic glared at Sally. "So, Sally... what are you going to do...? If you're gonna continue to believe this lie, what'll you do to Tails?"

Sally sighed. "We're going to keep a tight security detail on Tails, making sure that nothing else happens to him... like growing an extra tail or stuff. And if Tails IS connected with the fox demon, then..."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Then what...?"

Sally turned her head away. "We... might have to... kill him..."

Bunnie gulped. "It might be for the best, Sonic... we..."

Before anyone could react, Sonic slammed his fists into the table and snapped it into two. Sally, Antoine, Rotor and Bunnie stepped back in shock. It looked as if Tails wasn't the only one who possessed hidden power. He glared at Sally. "Listen to me carefully, Sally Acorn! If you do anything to Tails, you've got yourself a new enemy! UNDERSTAND!?"

"S...Sonic..." Sally stuttered.

"Save it!" Sonic snapped. He turned and walked away. "I have much more important things to do like checking on my friends..." He slammed the door behind him with a loud bang.

Antoine gulped and stared at the table. "I...I...I...I..."

"You've taken the words right out of my mouth..." Bunnie muttered.

Rotor stared at the table before glancing at Sally. "Maybe we're wrong... Sonic's right, it's hard to believe that Tails could have connections with something from a legend..."

"Rotor! Just moments ago, you were agreeing with me!" Sally said.

Rotor nodded. "I know, I just don't wanna know what could happen to me like what Sonic did to this table..."

"Coward..." Antoine muttered.

Bunnie raised an eyebrow. "Oh... and what are you...?"

"A chicken..." Antoine gulped.

Rotor pointed to a hut. "However, if Tails is connected to the nine-tailed demon fox... why is it happening NOW?"

Sally rubbed her chin. "I don't know, Rotor... but we better do something before we lose Tails... and Sonic's trust in us..."

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Sonic walked into Tails' hut, fuming from the talks he had with Sally and the others. Everyone starting to distrust Tails?! And after everything he had done for them! Sonic had a feeling that Cream, Cheese and Amy might be the only ones who still believed in Tails. He sighed as he saw Tails' still sleeping in his bed with Cream and Cheese watching over him. "Hey, you two..."

Cream smiled. "Mr. Sonic, you're back!"

Sonic chuckled. "Yeah... I'm back... listen, you two can go now. I'll take care of Tails from now on..."

Cream nodded. "OK, Mr. Sonic..." She left the room with Cheese as Sonic sat beside Tails' bed.

"I refuse to believe you're related to that legend they keep babbling about, Tails..." Sonic whispered. "But, I wonder how you got those powers by just growing an extra tail...?" He sighed. "Tails... whatever happens in the future, I'll never give up on you... NEVER!" He stared at the wall and narrowed his eyes. "And Pyro…next time I run into you, you'd better tell me what's going on or I'll shove some soap down your dirty mouth…again!"

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Location... Angel Island.

Dark smiled as she and Suna arrived on the ancient floating island. "What a beautiful place..."

Suna nodded. "Yes... it's such a shame that we must coat this beautiful place with the blood of the fallen echidnas..."

Dark sighed. "Yes... such a foolish race..."

"HEY!!! WHO ARE YOU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Came a voice. The two kitsunes turned around to see a group of echidna guards standing on a hill.

Dark narrowed her eyes as she raised her hand into the air... only for Suna to grab it. "What are you...?"

"Save your energy..." Suna muttered. He glared at the echidna guards as the sand in his jar came out. "Let me deal with them..."

The echidna guards gasped as they saw sand moving towards them. "HEY!!!" "WHAT IS THIS?!" "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

Two of the guards were covered in sand. "No... NO!!!! ARGH!!!"

(CRACK!!!!!!!)

The other echidnas gasped in horror as the sand moved towards them as well...

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The beautiful glow of a sky-blue jewel shone from the bushes near a lush jungle. It sparkled underneath the sun, making it hypnotic to the eye. However, its hypnotic sparkle wasn't strong enough to prevent Shadow the Hedgehog from picking it up with a grin.

"Well, what do you know..." Shadow whispered. "A Chaos Emerald..."

Rouge was nearby, sitting at the edge of a rock. "At long last... now, you can use your Chaos Control to teleport us to Knothole."

Shadow nodded. "Yes... and this'll stop you from moaning about how hungry you are."

Rouge frowned. "Well... excuse me for not having anything to eat for the past two days..."

Shadow chuckled. "Sorry... we had to be quick... we need to check on Tails to see if he's in any kind of danger."

Rouge shrugged. "I dunno... anything can happen in two days... something terrible might have happened to Tails before the murderer came to Soleanna... we should have gotten permission from G.U.N. to carry a Chaos Emerald around with us."

Shadow glanced at the Chaos Emerald he held in his hand. "No chance... even if I did get the permission, we'd still have to run since the Emeralds are still recharging from their last use."

Rouge stretched. "Point... well, now we have a Chaos Emerald... let's head down to Knothole and give the heads up to Sonic."

Shadow nodded and grabbed Rouge's arm. "Here we go..." He held the Chaos Emerald up. "Chaos... CON..."

"Agent Shadow! Agent Rouge! Respond!" Called a male voice via radio. "We've just uncovered vital information about this mysterious fox clan!"

Shadow sighed. "Perfect timing..."

Rouge nodded. "I know..." She began speaking to the communicator located on her wrist in the guise of a watch. "This is Agent Rouge. Please send the data through my palm device, please. I'll read it and tell Agent Shadow about it."

"Roger that... and please send a full report about your investigation on the Soleanna Museum attack!" The G.U.N. commander said.

Shadow sat down and narrowed his eyes at the Chaos Emerald. "The fox clan... does it have any connection with Tails...? If so, what do they want with him? What are they planning to do...?"

Reading what the G.U.N. commander sent to her handheld device, Rouge looked up and sighed. "Shadow... our newest enemy is called Biju."

"Biju, huh...?" Shadow asked.

Rouge nodded. "Yes... and believe it or not, they used to be our allies..."

Shadow raised an eyebrow. "Used to, huh...? What happened?"

"It happened over 3000 years ago when the legendary nine-tailed fox was still alive... he had amazing powers, Shadow. He could turn into a giant beast the size of a mountain! In fact, he could break mountains with just a wag of his tail!" Rouge said.

Shadow smirked. "Oh, really? Sounds like something fun to fight..."

Rouge sighed. "Why do I bother...?"

Shadow chuckled. "All right... continue..."

Rouge rubbed her forehead. "OK... He was the leader of his own fox clan called the Biju and they had no outside connections. However, one day, he was challenged by the King of Mobius, who went by the name of Red Lightning. They had a race, which ended in a draw. Even though it was a draw, they both won something special... a strong bond of friendship between a one-tailed creature and a multi-tailed creature."

"I see..." Shadow whispered. "And then...?"

Rouge bowed her head. "Something terrible happened... many foxes in the kitsune's tribe were killed... and at the same time, the king's people were killed as well. This led the King and the kitsune to blame one another and thus begin a war. No one knows how far the war went on, but it did end the life of the King and the kitsune at the same time..."

Shadow frowned. "Right..."

"Afterwards, the Biju clan was separated, as I mentioned before, and the multi-tailed foxes of the Biju vanished without a trace..." Rouge whispered. "No one never heard from them again... plus, before he died, the nine-tailed fox was able to speak his last words... that he would return from hell itself and restore his clan's pride."

Shadow closed his eyes. "I see... maybe he's coming back to life using Tails' body..."

Rouge sighed. "I think so... we better hurry to Knothole and protect Tails at all cost!"

"Let's go..." Shadow said, grabbing Rouge's arm again and holding the Chaos Emerald into the air. "Chaos... CONTROL!!!"

And they were gone...

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"Knothole!!! Here we are!!!" Rouge said, happily.

Shadow glanced around. "Rouge... try again..."

Rouge blinked and glanced around, noticing immediately that they were at the edge of a cliff which seemed to curve down away from them looking out at the vista of an endless sea of clouds, which she was very certain was nowhere near the Great Forest. They weren't at Knothole, they were at Angel Island! "What?! Shadow! What happened?! Did you lose control over Chaos Control? Why bring us here?"

Shadow glanced at the Chaos Emerald he held. "I... didn't... do it on purpose... Something doesn't feel right..."

Rouge looked behind her and gasped. "S...Shadow..."

Shadow followed Rouge's gaze. His eyes widened in shock. "WHAT?!"

It was a group of echidna guards, crushed to death. Rouge stepped back in horror. "Who... Who...?"

Shadow rushed over to the dead bodies and frowned. "Sand..."

"What?" Rouge asked.

"Sand... sand on their bodies... same as the fallen guards from the museum in Soleanna..." Shadow said. "Our murderer is on Angel Island..."

Rouge covered her mouth, shocked. "He's... here...? But why...?"

Shadow glanced at her. "What else? This is Angel Island, right...? So..."

"The Master Emerald?! The Biju are after the Master Emerald?!" Rouge asked. "No! I can't let them have it! It's MINE, and no one else's!"

Shadow sweatdropped. "Ah...right…that also means that Knuckles is in trouble! Let's go! Otherwise you can't ever get into an argument with him again…"

Rouge scowled at Shadow, but nodded. She wouldn't admit it, but she really was rather fond of the grumpy echidna. If anything happened to Knuckles... "Hold on, Knuckles... we're coming..."

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Not far off, Suna and Dark had reached the entrance of the temple. Dark was feeling the power of the Master Emerald through her dark fur. That was the sign Suna needed to know they were very close to their objective. They were about to enter when a voice called out behind them.

"Stop right there!"

They turned around and saw Shadow and Rouge running towards them. Shadow looked very angry when he saw all the crushed echidna corpses lying outside the temple.

"Why? Why did you kill them?!" shouted Rouge angrily as tears almost fell from her eyes.

"Because they were in our way," said Suna emotionlessly. Then he turned to Dark. " I will take the master emerald. You can take them."

Dark nodded to her partner as Suna entered the temple. Shadow raced up to stop him only to slam against a solid wall of darkness. He staggered back, rubbing his snout, and glared at Dark.

"Your opponent is me, Dark: the gobi no kitsune!" She said.

"So, you're from the kitsune clan," said Shadow. "I heard that each one of you has a different kind of power. From what I can see, you're a dark elemental."

"That's right. You're not bad for an ichibi. I feel a strange power within you. It's going to be interesting to kill you," said Dark as she made a sign with her right hand. The earth next to her shook and erupted as a tall scythe made of solid bone and steel floated into the air and into her hand. She then swung the blade down and made a little cut in her thumb with the scythe, to Shadow and Rouge's surprise.

"What's she up to?" wondered an anxious Rouge.

"I am feeling a dark power within her body. Whatever she's up to, it's not going to be good!" Thought Shadow to himself.

"While I fight with your ichibi no hedgehog, your little bat friend will deal with the echidnas here," said Dark with a smirk.

She quickly made hand signs and punched the ground, a dark purple aura spreading out from the point of impact before fading. Rouge screamed as she felt a hand grabbing at her foot. She kicked the hand off and stumbled back, eyes widening in surprise and horror when she saw who had grabbed her.

It was one of the dead echidnas. One by one, the dead, grotesquely mutilated echidnas stared to get up and lurching towards Rouge, a cool look in their dead eyes as they began surrounding her. She shivered, narrowed her eyes, and then began lashing out at the antagonistic zombies with her powerful feet. The last thing Shadow saw before the zombies closed in around her was Rouge smashing one echidna's chest in just as another one was leaping at her exposed back and wings.

"Rouge!" shouted Shadow in alarm, but before he could do anything, a powerful kick slammed into his head and sent him hurtling towards a tree. He flipped his body around, absorbed the impact with his feet, and hurtled back across the open field towards Dark, who slammed her scythe into the ground and used it as a pole vault to leap over him, landing back on the ground at the same time he did. They glared at each other from several meters apart, waiting for the next move.

"I told you, your opponent is me," said Dark sinisterly.

"The dead…" said Shadow, glancing at the zombies for a moment before glaring back at the black fox. "How are you doing this? What are you?"

"That's easy to answer. Not only do I control the darkness, but I am also a necromancer," said Dark with a smirk.

Shadow's eyes widened in surprise. He had heard about the necromancers. They were often depicted as a usually evil sorcerer that could summon demons and corpses and raise the dead with their spells, and have them fully under their control until they were no longer needed and were reduced to ashes or dead again. Shadow knew that his opponent was clearly someone very dangerous.

"I'll just have to get serious, then," said Shadow with a smirk. He reached up with one hand, grabbed the bracelet on his right wrist, and twisted it until it clicked and snapped open, falling to the ground. "Dark, huh? Well, Dark, meet Shadow." He switched his Emerald to his other hand, grabbed his remaining bracelet, and snapped it off. It fell to the ground with a thud next to the other one. Shadow spread his arms, fists clenched, as his power levels rose, fur bristling and standing on end as greater energy flowed through his body without his power limiters in place. "I think you'll find _me_ a lot more difficult to handle than your brain-eating friends."

"Well…" Dark grinned and swung her scythe through the air. "We'll just have to see about that, won't we?"

And soon enough, they would.

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Suna finally arrived at the chamber where the echidna clan held the Master emerald. He glared when he saw a muscular red echidna with spiked fists barring his path. This must have been the guardian he had heard about. The one named Knuckles.

"You will not get any closer to the Master Emerald!" declared Knuckles, ready to fight.

"Humph, what makes you think you can defeat me? I already killed some fools outside," Suna boasted. "I'm surprised you weren't there to defend them…or is the great guardian of the Master Emerald nothing more than a coward?"

Knuckles growled at the kitsune, eyes flaring in rage. "YOU-!!!" He leaped forward to smash Suna's face in, but his fist just smashed into a thick wall of sand. Knuckles' eyes widened in surprise. "What the-" Before he could react, he was hit by a blast of sand which shot him across the room. Blood came out of his mouth when his back slammed into the wall.

"Like I told you, you have no chance against me. An ichibi like you doesn't have the power to defeat a 7 tails like myself," said Suna emotionlessly. " If you don't want to die, move out of my way."

"Like hell I would run away while my friends lost their lives protecting the emerald!" Shouted Knuckles.

"Then shall your blood dye my sands red," said Suna as his sand moved in the direction of Knuckles.

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Dark slashed down with her scythe, creating a vertical dark energy wave which shot towards Shadow, splitting the ground open as it raced towards him. "Hmmph!" The dark hedgehog easily sidestepped the wave and dashed forward, the rocket skates on the bottoms of his shoes igniting and yellow energy coalescing around his fist as he got right into Dark's face and punched her right in the snout, the force of his Chaos-amplified fist smashing her face in. Unfortunately, while this would probably have been a lethal blow for any regular person, the same could not be said of Dark. Shadow was startled that the fox's body remained upright despite having its face significantly inverted and was even able to kick him right in the chest, shoving him back at the same time that it swung the scythe horizontally in an attempt to decapitate him. He quickly ducked low under the blade, then leaped into the air as Dark swung it back again, this time at a much lower angle. As he rose into the air, he lashed out with a kick which caught Dark under the chin and snapped her head back with a sickening crack, pushing it back at a ninety degree ankle and simultaneously burnt a great deal of fur off her due to the exhaust from Shadow's shoes.

However, this did not significantly impair Dark either, the black fox simply leaped into the air after Shadow, bringing her scythe to bear to skewer him while in flight. Shadow's hands snapped up as the blade swung down, catching the scythe between his palms mere millimeters from his face. Using his enhanced strength, he wrenched the scythe out of her hands and drove both his feet into her chest, smashing her rib cage at the same time that he unleashed a phenomenal exhaust burst from his jets, both propelling him away from the fox at high speeds while launching Dark, fur severely scorched and burnt off by the flames, into the side of the temple, where she smashed through the stone and caused a good deal of rubble to collapse on top of her. As Shadow fell to the ground, he launched several dozen powerful energy arrows called Chaos Spears at the debris pile, blowing it up and causing even more of the temple to collapse. Shadow reflected that Knuckles probably wouldn't be pleased with this damage, but didn't particularly care. If it was that big a deal, he could just send the bill to G.U.N.

Somehow, Shadow wasn't surprised when a hideously disfigured, twisted, broken corpse, clawed its way out of the rubble and stood up, its fur already growing back and body mending itself, all the broken bones and organs snapping and twisting back into place. Dark's face popped out of her skull as her neck repaired itself, sending a psychotic grin in Shadow's direction. "Hehehehe. Silly ichibi. Don't you know you can't kill a necromancer?"

"That's true," Shadow agreed. "After all, what is death to someone to so easily controls the dead? Of course…" He pulled out his Chaos Emerald, which glistened in the sunlight. "You can only resurrect your corpse if you still have one."

"The same can be said of you," Dark said, her scythe flying through the air and returning to her hands. She began to float into the air, a dark aura surrounding her. "When I'm through with you, there won't be enough left for even the greatest of necromancers to bring you back!"

"Please," sneered Shadow as the dark fox rocketed towards him at speeds nearly (NEARLY, not actually) rivaling his own. "Do you know how many people have said things like that to me?" He flipped the Chaos Emerald in his hand. "Chaos Control!"

There was a flash of green light, and then everything seemed to slow down…for Shadow, anyway. Dark was now hurtling towards him at a much slower and more manageable rate, allowing Shadow to sidestep her normally lethal strike, stick out a foot to trip her, then grab her by the tails as she slowly tumbled downwards, spinning about and hurling her away, causing the fox to smash her head in against a tree as time sped up again. Of course, since she was a necromancer, that didn't actually kill her…but Shadow bet it hurt.

"Got a headache?" the dark hedgehog commented as he walked over to the dazed and recovering fox, picked up her scythe, and snapped it over his knee. "I could give you some aspirin if you like."

The fox twisted her head around (literally, her neck snapped again and caused Shadow to grimace) and fixed Shadow with a furious look, eyes glowing red with rage. "_You…_"

"Yes?"

"NOBODY TOUCHES A KITSUNE'S TAILS AND LIVES!" Dark shrieked, as the sun dimmed overhead and shadows began racing to her sides. (The ones cast by people, not the hedgehog himself.)

"Well," Shadow said nonchalantly. "There's a first time for everything."

Shadow realized he had probably gone too far, but he honestly did not regret it, even when Dark screamed with fury and just like that, the whole world seemed to vanish as an oppressive wave of pure darkness which might be capable of crushing even his immortal bones began rushing towards him. The insult had been well worth it.

And he wasn't afraid of the darkness, anyway. Darkness was his essence, after all, and so he knew better than anyone that sometimes the best way to banish the dark was with light. He raised his Chaos Emerald into the air, channeling its power as his lithe form began to glow a brilliant red.

The obliterating darkness formed into a monstrous and oversized projection of Dark's head, jaws wide open to consume the pestilent hedgehog. "CHAOS…." The shadow fox's jaws slammed shut over him, blotting out the light. Or it did, until…

"BLAST!" The fox's eyes widened in surprise just before a ridiculously powerful blast of pure red Chaos energy erupted from inside its head, destroying it utterly as well as shattering the darkness all around, revealing the clearing before the temple where they had started, only a significant chunk of it had been turned into a crater by Shadow's Chaos Blast attack.

The dark hedgehog stood in the epicenter of the smoking crater he had formed, panting slightly, red bolts of energy crackling around him. Dark, looking much more worse for wear than he did, barely able to stand even as her body mended itself.

"How…how is this possible?!" she panted. "How can a worthless ichibi defeat a superior kitsune like myself?!"

"Hmmph!" Shadow cockily crossed his arms and smirked at the fox. "I'm the Ultimate Lifeform. Compared to me, _nobody's_ superior."

"Yes, especially when it comes to ego!" Rouge yelled from on top of the pile of twitching, moaning, dismembered zombies she had defeated. "No man can possibly stand up to such an over-inflated power!" Shadow scowled at her.

"Humph, I am a vixen, baka," Dark sneered.

"WHAT!!" Shouted Rouge, nearly falling off the zombie pile in surprise. " He's a SHE!? Girl, if you weren't my enemy, I would take you to a shopping center. Look at you. You have no sense of fashion here."

"Heh, like hell I would go anywhere with an annoying bat girl that acts like a slut," Dark snorted, making Rouge furious.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOU BITCH!?" Rouge exploded.

Shadow sweatdropped, noting that his ego was probably no match for the rage of his slighted partner. "Rouge, this is not time or place for this."

It was then that they all heard a horrible agonizing scream followed by the sound of shattering glass. Moments later, dozens of green energy beams shot out from the temple's roof and arced away, scattering in all directions. Rogue gasped in horror. She knew that sound all too well.

"MASTER EMERALD!!!" Shouted Rouge. "Oh, and Knuckles too!"

"Its looks like my partner killed one more those annoying echidnas," said Dark with an evil chuckle, recovering her strength and preparing to attack again.

However, before Dark could make her move, she was hit by another green energy beam which shot out from the temple's entryway, striking her in the chest and tearing out the other side before piercing a tree and fading, revealing it to be a shard of the Master Emerald, which Rouge gleefully snatched as Shadow eyed the smoking hole through the black fox's chest uncertainly. Her eyes widened, mouth open and gaping, lost for words. All the zombies in the heap disintegrated, crumbling to dust as the power animating them faded. Dark fell to her knees and hugged her head in pain.

Shadow was about to offer her some aspirin again when Dark began screaming. "No, not that memory! Onii-san! OOONIIISSANNNN!!!!" She screamed as her body began to emit a dark purple aura.

Shadow and Rouge didn't have time to react before the dark aura exploded outward, knocking them off their feet and flinging the Chaos Emerald out of Shadow's hand. Dark glared at them with hatred, much hatred, however, instead of attacking them, she just grabbed Shadow's Chaos Emerald before he could take it back and promptly vanished into the shadows.

"What happened?" Shadow wondered, pulling himself back to his feet.

Rouge didn't say anything; she just rushed into the temple. She was hoping that Knuckles was still alive. Oh, and that a few pieces of the Master Emerald remained, of course.

"Rouge, wait!" Shouted Shadow as he ran after to his partner.

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Rouge was rushing as fast as she could through the temple to the master emerald's chamber. When she crossed the final threshold, her eyes widened in pure horror, her body quivering and paralyzed at the sight before her.

The Master Emerald was shattered, nothing left of it but its narrow pointed base imbedded in its large pedestal, its myriad pieces scattered around the world yet again! Oh, and Knuckles was lying on the ground, covered in blood, as Suna stood over him, looking at the defeated echidna before him. Then he noticed that Rouge was there.

"He was a brave warrior, but not strong enough to defeat me," Said Suna as all the sand in the room returned to Suna's jar. "Don't worry, I will not kill you. You're not worthy of dying my sand with your blood." With that, Suna's body turned to sand and vanished, blown away by a sudden gust of wind, leaving Knuckles and Rouge behind. Shadow entered the hall behind Rouge and gasped as he saw Knuckles' condition.

"Dear lord," whispered Shadow.

It took Rouge a minute before her legs could stop trembling enough to walk towards her rival. She kneeled beside him, gasping when she realized how bad the damage on Knuckles' body was. Both his legs and his left arm were totally crushed.

"Knuckles…oh my god! What did that monster did to you! And the Master Emerald!" said Rouge as she placed her hand on the echidna's face.

Knuckles coughed up some blood and gazed at Rouge, his eyesight fading. "R-Ro..Rouge…"

Rouge interrupted him. "Knuckles, don't speak, you'll be fine… I.. .I will get help and everything will be fine, you'll see," she said, tears building up in her eyes.

"I…gasp… I dunno….gasp I will gasp not survive. Gasp I...can't..Gasp Gasp feel my legs -gasp or my left arm." He coughed up some blood and looked weakly at Rogue.

"Sorry gasp ….about our…fights gasp in..the p-past."

Knuckles then took one last shaky breath…before losing his consciousness.

"Knuckles…KNUCKLES! KNUUUUUCKLEEEEES" Sobs racked Rouge's body as she hugged the limp form of the echidna. "You can't die! I need your help to reassemble the Master Emerald! It won't look nearly as good in my showcase if I have to hold it together with duct tape and glue!"

Shadow kneeled beside the couple to check for Knuckles' pulse.

"He's still alive! We have to take him to the hospital now!!" said Shadow determinedly.

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Tails woke up in his bed. He realized that Sonic was beside him, sleeping. He smiled, glad to see his friend. It was then he noticed he had a third tail, which was a surprise to him, because he was pretty sure he was only supposed to have two. Unless…

"It wasn't a dream…It was real…" thought Tails sadly as he remembered Dark's words when she said his friends would start to fear him.

"No, Sonic is not like that!" Tail protested as he got up from the bed, without waking Sonic up.

Before he could open the hut door, he heard voices outside.

"Did you hear? They're saying Tails is some kind of freak."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, he got a 3rd tail out of nowhere. Juts like the legendary kitsunes. You know, the ones that get powers from the number of tails they have."

"Are you saying that Tails can be related to the legendary demon fox of legends?"

"Who knows? That's a possibility. If he really is I don't want to be near of him."

"Same here."

The voices outside were gone. But it was enough to make Tails sad and confused. It was just like what Dark had told him. Had she been right after all? He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists the more he thought about it. He didn't notice his eyes begin to glow and a breeze start blowing through the hut, rattling the various paraphernalia on the shelves and stirring Sonic. Maybe the masculine female fox had been telling the truth. Maybe he didn't belong with people who had just one tail after all. Maybe he should be with his own kind. Maybe he was wrong to think these people were his family…

Just then, Sonic woke up, yawned, blinked groggily, and looked at Tails. He did a double take when he saw his fox friend was conscious. "Hun? Tails? You're up at last! Boy, I was so worried about you!" the blue hedgehog said joyfully, looking more than happy to see Tails finally awake.

Tails blinked, staring at Sonic as the wind died down…and then realized that all the morbid thoughts he had been harboring just then were completely wrong, the self-deception falling apart the instant he saw the genuine concern in his best friend's eyes. And he knew that he did belong, and had a family here, after all.

And yet…he grimaced, recalling what he had just overheard the other villagers saying. He wasn't sure he wanted to live in a place where people feared and hated him. But if the alternative was leaving Sonic… He sighed and shook his head. "Sonic…I…"

"Tails?" Sonic asked, straightening up, clear worry on his face.

"I…I just need to clear my head," said the little fox. "I'll…be back soon." Without warning, another, stronger gust of wind blew through the room, knocking some of the duo's things off the walls and pushing a startled Sonic back. Tails hopped out of bed flew out the window, his three tails whirling faster than ever as they propelled him away. Sonic rushed to the window.

'TAILS WAIT!!" He jumped outside of the room, going after Tails.

TO Be continued.

Preview

"Something is wrong with Dark. She's evolving too fast!"

"What's happening with nee-san?"

"Tails, we have to talk."

A roar can be heard, shining red eyes can be seen in the darkness. With the moonlight it was possible to see a giant quadruped fox, with 8 long tails, destroying everything around it.

"What the hell is that thing?!"

Well, that's the ned of the chapter 4.

I hope you guys liked the chapter as much a I did. Don't worry, Knuckles will survive, only he will be out of action for a while.

Anyway, I will have here a little voting and a contest.

Lets star with the voting first.

Since Knuckles will be out of action, I will let you decide which sonic character will take his place to help Sonic and company in the fight agaist the kitsunes.

A) Silver- the hedgehog p

B) Blaze- the cat.

One of them will show up in the fic.

And now lets go to the contest. Next chapter will show up Luna: Dark's little sister who will play an important part in the story, along with another single-tail animal kid.

The contest is to creat this animal kid who will be friend to a kitsune kid.

Here is the rules

1-It can be any single-tail animal, except for foxes.

2- Must be a kid, around 6-8 years old and an orphan

3-must be a male character.

The winner character will show up in the fic ( giving credits to the creator, of course) and also I will draw this charater and luna together and adding them in my gallery. Good lucky everyone.

Once more I thanks to Ninetailsuk and to Jeremy for the beta writing and also for helping me in the fight scene between Shadow and Dark. You guys rules!!!


	5. Chapter 5

ALLRIGHT!!!

Sorry. Sorry, people! Sorry about the lateness of chapter chapter 5! I had a real bad case of writer's block and I don't know when the sixth chapter will be finished. Thanks to Ninetalesuk, he helped me a lot in this chapter and I do hope you enjoy it!

Well, here goes the fifth chapter!

Tails of Doom Chapter 5 

Deep underground lay a city, the lair of all kitsunes that hated the outside world.

In a temple deep in this ancient city, something strange and terrifying was happening. One of the main kitsune warriors, Dark, was encased within a great crystal ball. Moments ago, the five-tailed kitsune and his partner Rouge the Bat.

Shadow and Rouge were not responsible for her current condition, however. It had been caused by a blast from the Master Emerald when Suna, the seven tailed, the emotionless seven-tailed kistune succeeded in his mission to destroy the main controller of the seven Chaos Emeralds and nearly killed its guardian, Knuckles the Echidna.

Hissing and growling, Dark was fighting against whatever damage had been done to her by the Master Emerald blast. And judging from how weak her struggles were getting, she wasn't going to win…

Suna was watching from nearby. Although he didn't show any expression, he was really worried for his partner deep down…

"Suna-san…?" Quivered a young child's voice.

Suna turned around to see an eight-year old fox kit standing behind him. Her fur was black as night and her eyes were red. Two tails flowed behind her. A white crescent moon stood out from her forehead.

Suna closed his eyes. "Luna, you shouldn't be here… You know that…"

"I know, I know…" Luna said, glancing at Dark as she succumbed to exhaustion and fell asleep inside her crystal. "What happened? What happened for my sister to become like this…?"

"I'm afraid that the seal I placed on her became damaged by the energy released from the Master Emerald when Suna shattered it…" Said a voice behind them.

The two kitsunes turned around to see a very tall gray fox with eight long tails. His eyes were cold blue and he had a diamond purple mark on his forehead. His face showed great wisdom and experience, although he looked quite young, around 20 years… or less.

Suna fell to his knees in respect. "Arcana-sama!"

Luna, however, was worried. "Arcana-sama, what do you mean? What seal? What seal did you place on my sister?"

Suna looked up. "Is it the seal on her memory of that incident…?"

"I'm… afraid so…" Arcana replied sadly.

"What memory…?" Luna asked in confusion. "Please tell me! Please, Arcana-sama! Please!"

Arcana sighed sadly, looking down at the little kit. He had to tell her now because she needed to be prepared for whatever might happen when the seal was destroyed.

"Luna, what do you know about the Biju Lords?" Arcana asked.

Luna blinked in confusion, but proceeded to answer. "Well, they're nine ancient creatures with incredible powers. Each one has a different number of tails to show that they're the strongest of their kind. For example, the raccoon dog clan had Shukaku, whom was a one-tailed Biju, the ichihi. He was also the most bloodthirsty of the group."

"Good… and we used to have a Biju as our leader…" Arcana murmured in sadness.

Luna nodded. "Yes. Arashi-sama, the nine-tailed Biju and the strongest of all the Biju Lords. But, why…?"

Arcana held his hand up. "Luna, this is what happened. I sealed your memory much like Dark's but the thing is…you once had an older brother. Umbra, the dark magician…"

Luna blinked innocently. "My brother was a Duel Monster?"

Arcana sweatdropped. "Not exactly… He was an ancient sorcerer who hardly made mistakes with his spells."

Suna nodded. "That's correct. He was trying to create a spell that would allow us to go back in time and prevent the tragedy that befell our Lord from ever happening…"

"And then, for no apparent reason, one of his spells went horribly wrong…" Arcana said with a weary sigh. "Your sister was the same age as you back then, and also had two tails, while you were little more than a young kit. I took you and your sister into Umbra's room to see the spell when the disaster occurred…"

"What happened…?" Luna asked.

Suna closed his eyes. "You were transported into the realm of Hades, where you encountered the two-tailed Biju Lord, Nekomata!"

Luna gasped in horror. She had heard of Nekomata, the Biju Lord of the Cat clan. She was the second Biju Lord, making her the second weakest of the nine. Thankfully, she wasn't bloodthirsty like Shukaku. That didn't mean she wasn't dangerous, though. Her title was the 'Goddess of Necromancers', and she punished the fools that went against the arts of dark magic! A meeting with this Biju Lord could either be good or bad…hard to say, as Nekomata was neither a good or bad girl.

"As it turns out, your brother had a hidden agenda while he was trying to craft a spell for time travel… your brother was trying to bring your lost parents to life using forbidden dark magic," Arcana explained. "He attempted to use one spell to fulfill both objectives, but it didn't work. The spell overloaded, and instead transported you two to Hades. Your brother followed you two into the dark realm and managed to rescue you… however, he wasn't able to get Dark out."

"When Dark discovered your brother's plans to bring your parents back, she was against it, but kept it a secret. She decided to stop Umbra by herself, to try and prevent him from reviving them… You see, people who use dark magic to bring the dead to life have two destinies…they either become insane or die themselves!" Suna said.

Arcana sighed. "This is where it gets difficult. Nekomata's punishment on Umbra for using forbidden dark magic was… death! She killed him in cold blood, while Dark looked on in horror! As for Dark herself, Nekomata decided to make her one of her Necromancers, seeing as she had tried to stop Umbra. There were, however, side effects. Her powers are evolving too fast, and it might drive her insane!"

Luna gasped. "So, that's why the seal…?"

Arcana nodded. "I sealed your memory so you could forget that horrible domain, and put another one in Dark's mind to control her power when she reached her fifth tailed stage. She was working hard to control the powers of necromancy, respecting the rules along the way. I guess it wasn't strong enough to withstand the blast of the Master Emerald. I should have foreseen this…"

Luna closed her eyes. "Umbra brother, why…? Why did you-?"

"No one knows…" Suna hissed. "However, it seems someone took advantage of his despair after your parents died, convincing him to use the forbidden magic. Problem is, only Umbra knows who told him… and he took that secret to his grave."

Arcana nodded. "That's right. I only knew about his plans when Nekomata sent Dark back into our world. When she was ready, Dark told me everything…"

Luna sniffed before glancing at Dark. "First mamma, then papa, then brother Umbra and now… I don't want to lose Dark! I don't want to…"

Arcana sighed. "I'm more worried about the fact that whatever Nekomata did to Dark, it's making her evolve even faster! The speed of that evolution might drive her insane! We might have to prepare ourselves for the worst…"

None of the kitsunes said anything as Arcana walked away. Suna sighed, glancing at Luna. "I think you should go back home…"

Luna glanced at Suna before looking back at Dark. She didn't want to leave her sister, but she knew it was better to just leave Arcana to his work. Luna knew how to use darkness and shadows as her primary weapons, but she wasn't a necromancer like her older sister. She had been puzzled as to why Dark had never let her study necromancy after she got her second tail…

But now, she knew…

Luna closed her eyes, a tear falling down her cheek. "I wish… I wish I could help her…"

Suna shook his head sadly and led Luna away.

However, none of them noticed a small crack in the crystal ball where Dark was sleeping…

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Knuckles the Echidna lay on a hospital bed, covered in bandages with casts on his broken limbs.

Standing in the room with him were Shadow the Hedgehog, Rouge the Bat and a female deer in a doctor's coat.

After a few moments, Shadow sighed. "So, how is he doing, Dr. Lanna?"

Lanna sighed as she wrote on a clipboard. "The operation was a success... I'm glad he's alive, even though many guards have perished. I can only imagine how their families must feel."

"How long until he recovers?" Rouge asked.

"A better question is... when will he wake up?" Lanna said. "Whatever happened to him must have damaged his spirit..."

Shadow glanced at Lanna. "You sure?"

"The Master Emerald has been destroyed, Angel Island has fallen to the sea once more, and many echidnas have died while he was left beaten by this... sand fox…in a pool of blood... I'm very sure..." Lanna said.

Rouge rubbed her chin. "Maybe I can wake him up..."

Lanna stared at Rouge. "YOU? No offense, but what can you do to wake him from his coma?"

"Watch..." Rouge said, walking over to Knuckles' side of the bed. "Oh, Knuxie... if it's all right, can I take the Master Emerald for a spin?"

Knuckles' eyes flew open and he sat up in a flash. "OH NO YOU DON'T!!! TOUCH THAT EMERALD AND I'LL..."

(CRACK!!!)

Knuckles cringed as he fell on his back. "... Get a massage... ouch..."

Shadow and Lanna sweatdropped. Shadow rubbed his eyes. "Damaged spirit? Yeah, right..."

"Erm... welcome back, guardian?" Said a confused Lanna.

Blinking, Knuckles glanced around. "Where am I...?"

Rouge smiled. "Echidnaopolis Central Hospital. We brought you here quickly after finding you in a pool of your own blood..."

"My own... blood?" Knuckles murmured. His eyes widened. "Oh no... The Master Emerald..."

Shadow sighed. "Shattered... by that fox that can use sand as a weapon. We've been trailing him ever since he killed some security guards in Soleanna's history museum..."

"By why? Why were they after the Master Emerald?" Lanna asked. "And better yet, why did they destroy it?"

Knuckles glanced at his body, cringing. "Doctor, what happened to me?"

Lanna sighed. "You were in critical condition. Luckily, we were able to save your life by performing some rather risky surgery. You need to rest now so your body can recover. I was worried about your mental health, but..."

"It's like Sonic said, he's a Knucklehead..." Shadow grumbled.

"DON'T ACT LIKE SONIC!!!" Knuckles snapped.

Rouge giggled. "So, how long does Knuckles have to stay in bed?"

"Just for a while..." Lanna said.

"How long...?" Knuckles asked.

Lanna cringed. "Two months..."

"TWO MONTHS?!" Knuckles yelled.

"Less than that if you rest well or use the power of the Chaos Emeralds..." Lanna said. "From what I've heard, you're a Chaos User, and Chaos Users can heal quickly with two or more Chaos Emeralds. Am I right?"

Shadow nodded. "Yes, that's correct... however; my Chaos Emerald was stolen by the sand fox's friend."

Lanna sighed. "Very well then. I'm sorry, guardian. You must rest here for the time being."

"Fine..." Knuckles grumbled. "I hope the food is good..."

Lanna scribbled some more on her clipboard and turned towards the exit. "I'll update the records now."

"Is there a phone nearby?" Shadow asked. "I need to make a call..."

Lanna nodded. "Yes... there's one next to this room."

"Thank you..." Shadow said as Lanna walked away. "Knuckles, have you heard of the kitsune?"

Knuckles nodded. "Yeah... multi-tailed foxes with different powers. A legend that I thought couldn't be true. When I met Tails, I thought that the legend might be real, but he had no special powers so..."

"You thought the legend was false again?" Rouge asked.

"Yeah... until now... that fox who used sand... he was a kitsune, wasn't he?" Knuckles asked.

Shadow nodded. "Correct."

"Which means... the legend of the large, nine-tailed fox is true..." Knuckles grunted. "But, why did they destroy the Master Emerald?!"

"I think they need the Chaos Emeralds to resurrect the nine-tailed fox and they want the revival to work flawlessly..." Rouge said. "Therefore, they'd need to make sure nothing could prevent it."

Shadow closed his eyes. "The Master Emerald has the power to nullify the seven Chaos Emeralds, right?"

Knuckles sighed. "Yeah... and now that the Master Emerald is destroyed, they can perform the revival more easily... Damn!"

Rouge bit her lip. "There's something else you should know... it's about... Tails..."

Knuckles quickly put things together. "Tails is one of them?" He sighed. "Guess I was right about him after all..."

"His ancestor could have been a member of their clan, but we have a feeling the kitsune might be after him..." Rouge said. "We were heading to Knothole to warn Sonic and the others, but ended up here instead."

"Where Rouge made a new friend..." Shadow muttered.

Rouge fumed. "Did you know what she called me?!"

"What did she call you?" Knuckles asked.

"I'm not telling you because you'll end up laughing and I'll break your nose!" Rouge snapped.

Shadow rubbed his eyes. "Anyway, I'm going to contact Sonic and tell him the situation. Rouge, can I leave you here without getting Knuckles to chase you around the hospital in a wheelchair?"

Rouge smiled innocently. "I don't know... can you?"

"Knuckles, please control your temper..." Shadow muttered. "No matter how annoying she might get..."

Knuckles smirked. "I wouldn't worry about it... she can't go after the Master Emerald seeing as it's been destroyed."

Rouge grinned. "That doesn't mean I can't collect the pieces like I did the last time it shattered."

"DON'T YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!!!" Knuckles snapped.

Shadow sweatdropped as he walked out of the room. "And I hoped they would at least wait 2 seconds after I left to start arguing... guess I was wrong."

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Tails sat on a tree branch, somewhere far from Knothole, confused as to what had happened to him two days ago. He still couldn't believe he had gained a third tail, with the ability to use wind! He kind of liked the idea of using his newfound powers to help Sonic, but had he hurt Sonic's pride? And all the other Mobians, including some of his closest friends, had started to distrust him…

It felt like Sonic, Amy, Cream and Cheese were the only ones to trust him… But, how long would it be until they turned their backs on him…?

Tails sighed. "What am I…? A demon…or a freak…?"

Those questions wouldn't stop running around inside his head. He remembered the meeting with Dark, the mysterious black vixen with five tails…who looked like a male, freaking him when he found out what Dark's gender really was. He had to wonder, did she live with this kind of distrust too? She had said multiple tails were never treated well by single-tailed animals and they were always betrayed.

If that was true, why hadn't Sonic and the others turned on him?

Tails sighed and closed his eyes, feeling the wind around him. Then, something strange happened… he could swear that the wind was trying to tell him something!

Betrayal… 

_Danger…_

_Betrayal…_

_Danger…_

"Betrayal and danger…?" Tails whispered in confusion, opening his eyes. "What does that mean!?" More questions seemed to be coming out of nowhere, and he had no idea what to do…

Maybe he should go with Dark so he could get more answers about multiple tailed crea-

"NO!!!" Tails hissed to himself. "It's bad enough that Sally and the others are starting to distrust me, but if I go with Dark…they might think I've turned against them!"

Tails shook his head, looking tired. "I'm thinking too much… I better take a nap so I can relax…maybe something will come to me when I wake up…" With a yawn, he lied down on the branch and fell asleep.

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And here, we enter Tails' dream…

"Erm… wasn't I in the forest a second ago…?" the fox asked as he walked down a strange corridor.

"_Come to me…"_

Tails froze when he heard the voice. "W-Who are you…?"

"_Come to me… follow my voice…"_

With no other choice, Tails followed the voice. He had no idea how long he walked, but when he finally reached the end of the corridor, he found himself in a huge throne room. It was majestic and beautiful, rich with gems and colored flags with foxes drawn upon them.

Tails' opinion?

"HOW DID A ROOM THIS BIG GET INSIDE MY HEAD?!" Tails screamed in disbelief.

He's impressed…

As for the voice…

"_Finally… we meet at last, child…"_

Tails gasped. Out of nowhere, a tall kitsune had appeared on the throne. He had orange fur like his but darker, blue eyes, and most importantly, NINE long tails!

"We meet at least, young Miles Prower, the sanbi no kitsune!" Said the mysterious fox with a soft smile. "I am Arashi, the kyuubi no kitsune and one of the Legendary Biju Lords…."

Tails could sense that Arashi was stronger than him. Maybe even stronger than Sonic, Shadow and Silver when they transformed to their Super forms using the Chaos Emeralds. And yet he also seemed very kind. But why was he here…?

"Who are you…?" Tails asked. "And how do you know my real name?"

Arashi smiled. "Simple… you're my descendant, my vessel and the next heir of the Biju Lord!"

"I'm what, your what and the what!?!?" Tails asked in shock.

Good thing there were chairs in that room, Tails certainly needed one…

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Sonic stood at the window, rubbing his chin in thought. "I was able to defeat a giant dragon made of water to save the world from its wrath. I saved the planet from a scientist's mad revenge with Shadow's help. I stopped Metal Sonic from carrying out his insane plan of killing me so he could BE me with the help of my friends. I even helped Shadow deal with the invading Black Arms... and yet, I can't do anything to help Tails! What am I going to do...?"

Just then, the phone started to ring...

Putting away his anxieties for the moment, Sonic picked up the phone and grinned. "Hello, Station Square Book Shop. If you need a snooze, you're calling the right place!"

"Very funny, Sonic... I wonder how you would greet the President of Central City if he called you on this line..." Said a familiar dark, moody voice.

Sonic blinked. "Shadow?! My, this is a pleasant surprise... you NEVER call me!"

Standing at a payphone in Echidnaopolis Central Hospital, Shadow sighed. "Well, I'm doing this because I was coming to Knothole to warn you about something, but I got held up..."

"Warn me? About what?" Sonic asked.

"Sonic... I'm in the Central Hospital in Echidnaopolis..." Shadow started.

Sonic frowned. "On Angel Island? What's wrong?"

"Its Knuckles... he was attacked..." Shadow said.

"WHAT?!" Sonic yelled. "What do you mean?!"

Shadow glanced at the room where Knuckles was supposed to be resting but probably wasn't. "He was attacked by two kitsunes from an ancient clan. Not only did they put Knuckles out for TWO months, but they shattered the Master Emerald!"

"Is he okay?!" Sonic asked.

Shadow smirked. "He's fine... his mental health is perfect... Rouge made sure of that..."

Sonic sighed. "Good..." He sat down on his bed. "So, who attacked him again? Kitsunes?"

"Yes... they're from a secret group of multi-tailed, colored foxes with elemental powers called the Biju," Shadow said. "The one who attacked Knuckles used sand as a weapon, he can turn it lethal. The other was a necromancer, using the dead as her personal soldiers."

Sonic frowned. "I see... they can control different elements. That explains it..."

"Explains what?" Shadow asked.

"We were attacked by a member of the Biju, who controlled two different elements..." Sonic said. "His main weakness was a bar of soap."

Shadow sweatdropped. "Come again?"

Sonic smirked. "This guy controlled the element of fire and I think he enjoys swearing a little too much..."

"I see your 'bar of soap' point now..." Shadow muttered. "So, you dealt with a pyrokinetic?"

Sonic nodded. "Yeah... and I could have easily beaten this guy, however I was caught off guard..."

Shadow smiled to himself at the thought of his rival being shown up. "By the fire kitsune?"

"By ANOTHER kitsune!" Sonic growled angrily. "Now that I think about it, I slipped on some ice before I got stuck... and since the guy I was fighting used fire attacks, it must have been someone else."

Shadow nodded. "Right... A necromancer, a sand-based geomancer, a pyrokinetic, and a cryokinetic...who knows what elements the others control..."

"Why are they doing this?" Sonic asked unhappily.

"It's a long story, but it somehow involves Tails..." Shadow said.

Sonic groaned. "I knew it!"

"Knew what?" Shadow asked.

"Pyrokinetics use fire and cryokinetics use ice, right?" Sonic asked. "Is there a special word for someone who uses wind?"

Shadow shrugged. ""If there is, I don't know the proper term... why?"

"Because Tails is an aerokinetic..." Sonic said.

"What?!" Shadow gasped.

"The pyrokinetic was beaten by Tails when he grew an extra tail and used wind attacks to blow Bad Mouth away!" Sonic said. "Nearly everyone in the village is suspicious of him now, even Sally! Shadow, tell me... what are the Biju up to?!"

Shadow closed his eyes. "It all started in Soleanna where Rouge and I were examining a crime scene left behind by the sand fox..."

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Meanwhile, with Snow, Pyro and Eggman….

"Five Chaos Emeralds have been found, right?" Snow asked, walking into the room with Pyro.

Dr Eggman stood at the control panel, rubbing his chin as he patted a box. "That is correct. Inside this box are five of the seven Chaos Emeralds..."

Pyro cackled. "That's (BEEP) (BEEP) (BEEEEEEP) wonderful!"

"I'm still searching for the remaining 2 Chaos Emeralds..." Eggman said.

Pyro grinned. "Make that one (BEEP) Emerald! We already found another one thanks to a more advanced Biju member!"

Snow nodded. "Yes... so, we now have six Chaos Emeralds altogether... may we have the other five?"

Eggman frowned. "Of course. However...you must keep your part of the bargain and get rid of Sonic the Hedgehog! Do that and you'll get the Chaos Emeralds!"

"What do you think...?" Snow asked.

Pyro smirked. "We'll do that once we've revived our leader!"

Snow nodded. "Yes... which means, you're no longer of any use to us..."

Eggman snarled. "I knew it!"

"Knew what? That we would betray you?" Snow asked, clapping her hands and covering Eggman's body, except for his head and arms, in ice. "If so, then you're correct, Doctor. And you were foolish to work with us... now, you'll pay the price!"

Eggman struggled. "You... You'll regret this! I swear! You'll regret this!!!"

Pyro cackled. "Hey, Snow! May I take this (BEEP) honor?"

Snow nodded. "Of course..."

Pyro grinned, summoning flames that shaped themselves into a spear. "Doctor (BEEP) Eggman! It's been (BEEP) real!"

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!!" Eggman screamed.

"(BEEP) die, you (BEEP) doctor!" Pyro yelled, throwing the fire spear at Eggman.

The spear struck the ice, causing an explosion which obliterated the scientist and sent...pieces of scrap flying everywhere?

Pyro yelped and jumped back as a charred metal skull hit the floor before him. "AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! WHAT THE (BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!!) HELL WAS THAT?!!?"

Snow bristled, lips curling back in a snarl. "It's a robot!"

"Of course it's a robot, you fools!" Eggman's voice barked through an intact speaker in the disembodied robot head, causing Pyro to scream and run about in fright, fearing he was being haunted by Eggman's ghost. "You didn't really think I'd come in person if I suspected you might betray me, did you?"

"Where the (BLEEP) are you?!" Pyro snarled, blazing up.

Monitors all around the room lit up to display Eggman's face, laughing at them. "Here I am!"

"How did you know we were going to betray you?!" Snow asked.

Eggman sighed. "Let's say I've had experience with backstabbing allies. I had to be careful in case you two planned to betray me as well. I set up my body double to take my place before you came back!"

"How many (BEEP) times have you been betrayed?!" Pyro asked.

"I've lost count..." Eggman grumbled.

"So... where are you now?" Snow asked.

"Hoho, wouldn't you like to know?" Eggman said with a grin. "I would ask you two to join me, but I don't think that'll be possible seeing as you tried to KILL me..."

Pyro sighed. "Damn, and I so wanted to roast his (BEEP) behind!"

"Never mind!" Snow said, holding up the box. "It doesn't matter if he's alive or dead, we have the Chaos Emeralds!"

"What if the Emeralds aren't in there?!" Pyro asked anxiously.

Snow opened up the box and smiled to see five gleaming Chaos Emeralds glittering inside. "Nope, they're in there..."

Pryo laughed. "HA! YOU (BEEP) LOSE, DOCTOR (BEEP) EGG(BEEP)MAN!!!"

Eggman chuckled. "Thanks for reminding me... I'll be taking back those Emeralds, now."

"What the (BEEP) makes you think we'll let you (BEEP) take them?!" Pyro asked.

Eggman grinned. "What makes you think you think you'll be giving them back to me...ALIVE?"

Snow's eyes widened. "What?!"

Eggman held up a remote control device. "My Eggman double has another feature. Once I press this button... KABOOM!!! Then, after a few hours, I'll pick up my lovely Emeralds from your roasted corpses!"

Pyro hissed. "Ahhhhhh, (BEEP)!"

Snow smirked. "Good job, Eggman... however..."

"There's nothing more to say, except... goodbye!" Eggman said, pressing a button.

The remnants of the Eggman robot started to glow, and then...

(BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!)

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A couple of hours later, Eggman walked into the destroyed room with a smile. "Ah... kitsunes, kitsunes, kitsunes... you have to get up a day early if you want to fool a good Doctor like myself!"

Eggman expected to find the disintegrated bodies of Pyro and Snow near the burnt remains of the box with the Chaos Emeralds shining in the soot.

Instead, he found a hole in the floor.

It took him two seconds to figure out what it was doing there.

"They escaped... THEY ESCAPED?!?!?" Eggman screamed. "HOW?!!? HOW THE (BEEP) DID THEY ESCAPE?! And how did I (BEEP) do that?"

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"Man, that was a (BEEP) close one..." Pyro muttered, walking down a forest path with Snow. "If you didn't create that (BEEP) ultra-thick ice shield to protect us from the blast, Eggman would have been roasting MY butt!"

Snow sighed, carrying the box containing the five Chaos Emeralds. "It's a shame you're still alive, but at least the Doctor is fortunate enough not to have to suffer your presence anymore..."

"What the (BEEP) is that supposed to mean?!" Pyro asked.

"Still, you have some uses... like burning a hole in the floor after the explosions were finished..." Snow muttered. "Anyway, we can pay the Doctor back...he'll die alongside all the other fools who dared to betray the Biju clan once we've revived our leader..."

Pyro grinned. "That's (BEEP) brilliant! And with six (BEEP) Chaos Emeralds at our (BEEP) side, it won't be long now!"

Snow nodded. "Yes... however, even if we have all seven Emeralds, it'll still be all for naught without him..."

"Oh, the (BEEP) brat?" Pyro asked.

Snow glared at Pyro. "Do NOT insult Miles, understand?!"

Pyro cringed. "Yes, ma'am...don't hurt me..."

Snow shook her head. "Come on, we have to make plans to figure out how to get the last Emerald and Miles..."

"(BEEP) right!" Pyro said. "I hope the Doctor likes the (BEEP) gift we (BEEP) gave him!"

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"CUUUUUUUUURSE YOOOOOOOOOU, YOU (BEEP) MULTI-TAILED (BEEP), FURRY (BEEP), FOX (BEEP) FREEEEEEAKS!!!!" Eggman screamed.

Yep, he likes it...

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Back in the underground temple, Dark's fight was nearly over, and the results didn't look very good at all.

Inside the crystal, Dark was having trouble breathing and sweating a lot. She was still fighting, but it seemed to be a losing battle as more and more tails grew from her rear. Five became six, and then seven…

Suna came back into the room and couldn't hold back his horrified exclamation when he saw Dark's condition. "ARCANA-SAMA!!! COME HERE!!! SOMETHING IS HAPPENING WITH DARK!!!!"

3.4 seconds later, Arcana burst into the room with a silver streak. The silver fox gasped in horror when he saw the crystal cracking, an eighth tail growing…

"What's going on here?! Dark is evolving too fast!!!" Arcana yelled.

"Do you think she'll stop at having nine tails…?" Suna asked.

Arcana shook his head. "No… there's a reason why the Biju Lords only allow up to nine tails to grow… if it gets any higher, the tailed one will become a mindless beast that craves only destruction!!!"

Suna gritted his teeth. "Damn… that can't be true…"

"Like it or not, it is true!" Arcana hissed. "Why else did the Biju Lords make this rule?! If anyone gains a tenth tail or higher, they might go insane or even worse… die!!!" He started to make hand signals. "She's on her eighth tail, I must try and reinforce the crystal to prevent Nekomata's power from completing its task!"

He held his hands out and a grey aura covered the crystal, but Arcana found that Dark was too strong. Dark was still fighting to keep her sanity in check, but she could only hear a voice that had haunted her for years before the seal was put in place…

"_That's the price your brother paid, but you seem to be much smarter than him… Yes, you follow the laws of dark magic much better than he did. Very well, from now on, you're my minion! My necromancer from the living world! Join me… JOIN ME!!!_"

And with that, Dark only felt pain. She opened her eyes, glowing a deep blood red. The crystal couldn't take it anyway and shattered in a blinding flash of light.

"DARK!!!" Arcana yelled, covering his eyes.

"Dammit, what's going on!?" Suna hissed.

When the light faded, Arcana and Suna lowered their arms to find Dark had disappeared.

"DAMN, she's gone!!!" Arcana hissed.

"How many tails does she have now?!" Suna asked.

Arcana sighed. "The good news is I was able to stop her leveling at eight tails, but…"

"But…?" Suna asked.

Arcana gritted his teeth. "She lost the battle to control her sanity… and she's been unleashed into the outside world!" He rubbed his face. "And whatever she's going to do, it won't be good…"

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Meanwhile, in Robotropolis…

"NO (BEEP!) CORPSE, NO (BEEP!) EMERALDS, AND NO (BEEP!) BASE!!! AND NOW, I'M ACTING LIKE THAT (BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!!!!) FOX!!! I'M HAVING A (BEEPBEEPBEEP!!!) BAD (BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!) DAY!!!"

Dr. Eggman was having a great day.

After all, the five Chaos Emeralds he had found were stolen by a snow fox and a pyromaniac fox that tried to betray him, his robots were destroyed, one of his bases blew up because he tried to kill them, but they escaped…

And he was somewhat cursed by an ancient power that prevented him from swearing: the dreaded censors!

His day was going great!!! He was really enjoying it!!!

Suddenly, the earth started to quiver. Eggman groaned. Weren't things bad enough as they were? "What the (BEEP!) is going on now…?"

He quickly ran into one of his control centers, alarms blaring as he turned on a monitor. He stared at it carefully…

"Rouge, is that you? Did you forget to put on your makeup this morning!?" Eggman asked.

It wasn't Rouge, however. The monitor showed giant skeleton fox creature covered in black flames, wagging its eight tails as it destroyed everything in its path.

"Wait… you're not Rouge… my mistake…" Eggman muttered. He switched off the monitor. Then he sweatdropped. He turned the monitor back on and stared at it. "Ah, (BEEP!)"

A normal individual might panic in a situation like this. But, remember, this is Doctor Eggman we're talking about. He's seen things like this so often that he always takes the situation calmly…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES!!! SEND OUT THE EGGMAN ARMY!!! SEND OUT THE AIR FORCE!!!!!! SEND OUT THE MARINES!!! SEND OUT THE S.W.A.T. TEAM!!!! SEND OUT… WHATEVER!!!!!!!! WE'VE GOT AN EIGHT-TAILED DEMON ON THE LOOSE!!!!!!!!"

…. OK, not so calmly…

**To be continued… with a strange cliffhanger, hmm?**


	6. Chapter 6

Tails of Doom

Chapter 6

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After his talk with Shadow, Sonic decided to get out of Knothole and get some fresh air. He really need to clear his head and figure out what was going on.

First there was that fire fox, followed by the surprise ice attack, and then Tails grew an extra tail. After that Knuckles was attacked and put into critical condition and the Master Emerald was shattered…. Again.

Leaning against a tree, staring into the sky, Sonic sighed. "Man, this is so annoying! I can understand why those foxes hate us, but I still don't know why they chose to come out now after three thousand years of hiding…" He closed his eyes. "Dash, the King that lived during that time and died alongside his close friend… the same friend he fought against...a hedgehog and a fox, friends, just like today...but unlike Dash, I won't give up on Tails!"

Sonic's eyes flew open. "There's gotta be a reason! Dash and the nine-tailed fox fought each other to the death because innocent people of both clans were getting killed, and they blamed each other! There's gotta be a reason somewhere, and I intend to find it!"

"_Sonic! Sonic, come in! Can you hear me?_"

Sonic glanced at the backpack he had placed beside him and brought out a walkie-talkie. He sighed. He was still angry with the others for rejecting Tails so quickly after growing an extra tail. He pressed the talk button. "Yes, Sally?"

"_Sonic, something strange has happened!_" Sally replied. "_There was an explosion in Robotropolis!_"

Sonic smirked. "Really? Must be Eggman must've been designing a new robot death machine and made a small...mistake..."

"_I don't think so, Sonic! We saw his ship heading to Robotropolis after the explosion!_" Sally replied. "_The explosion destroyed one of his towers! Can you take a look?_"

Sonic grinned. "Sure. I want to ask the good Doc a few questions, anyway..."

"_Thank you, Sonic…._" Sally whispered. Then… "_Oh my… what is that?!_"

Sonic blinked. "Sally? Sally, what's wrong?" He shook the device. There was no response. She was gone. "Sally? Sal, reply! Give me a sign!"

An explosion occurred from the direction of Robotropolis. The blue hedgehog whirled around to see a huge black flaming skeletal monster smashing buildings apart and destroying the city.

It was a horrifying sight. Eggman and the Knothole villagers were terrified by the creature's ghastly appearance. So gruesome, so demonic, that...

Sonic just looked bored. "First, a giant water dragon. Then, a large bio-mechanical lizard. Then, a huge dragon robot that use to be my doppleganger. And after that, a hideous alien horror. And then, a fight with a big shiny time god-thing that never actually happened. Oh, not to mention my fight against a psychotic--and ugly--genie inside a magical book. And now, this! Come on, Eggman… try something new!"

However, after carefully looking at the demonic creature, Sonic's eyes widened. "That skeletal structure...it's a fox! Did those guys sent that thing to get rid of Eggman?" After a moment's thought, he grinned. "Well, looks like I'm gonna have some fun after all!"

In the blink of an eye, Sonic dropped the communicator and rushed towards the city. "If I know Eggman, he's probably getting back up and fighting against that creature right now!"

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In Robotropolis, Sonic's words came true…

"RUN AWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sorry, wrong choice of words… What I meant was, Sonic's words DIDN'T come true.

With his city in the process of being destroyed, Eggman leapt into his escape ship and flew high into the air. Glancing at the monster, Eggman shuddered.

"What the (BEEP!!!) is that thing?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!?!?!!?!??????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not that I'm scared or anything…"

Even though Eggman asked what the skeleton is with so many exclamation and question marks, he wasn't afraid……….. OK, enough sarcasm.

"Move onto the next (BEEP!") scene please…" Eggman grumbled.

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In Knothole, Sally and the other villagers could see the destruction caused by the black flaming skeleton creature as it raged through Robotropolis. Even though they were far away, they could still see how huge the monster was, as well as feel the evil vibrations coming off of it.

"Wha… What is that thing!?" Sally asked herself.

"I don't know… whatever that thing is, we have to prepare ourselves if it decides to 'visit' Knothole!" Rotor said.

Sally looked at Rotor and nodded. As everyone hurried off to get their weapons, Sally shuddered. "If we need to face that thing, then heaven help us..." With that said, she ran off to join the others.

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Arcana and Suna stared at the vision shown in Arcana's magic mirror. They saw how the skeleton creature was destroying Robotropolis.

"Damn… as much as I hate those single tails, I can't watch Dark destroy the world!" Arcana whispered. "We have to stop her!"

Suna shook his head. "No… Arcana-sama, please let me try and stop Dark on my own. You still have to save up your energy for the ritual."

"FOOL!" Arcana snapped. "Suna, have common sense! Dark has lost her sanity! She will only see her friends, family and people as enemies! And her tails have grown to eight, she is now much stronger than you! Your Sand Shield won't even last a second against her dark flames."

Suna didn't say anything. He started digging for something in his bag. "It's… a risk I'm willing to take…" He brought out a dark green shard. "I'm going to use this…"

Arcana gasped. "That... That's a piece of the Master Emerald!! Why have you-"

"I've been holding on to this so the single tails won't be able to repair the Master Emerald…" Suna explained. "But, I'll use this to fight Dark, if I have to." He glanced at his leader. "You must find Tails! Maybe he can bring Dark to her sanity!"

The silver fox was silent for a moment, before nodding reluctantly. "Very well… Just be careful…"

"I will…" Suna replied.

With hand motions, Arcana teleported Suna and himself out of the room. A couple of seconds later, Luna popped her head into the room. She had heard everything they had been talking about. Glancing at the mirror, she saw Dark attacking the city. She shook her head sadly and closed her eyes.

"I may have lost my older brother, but I won't lose you, sister! I will help you somehow…" Luna said, before leaving the room.

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Half an hour later, back on the surface, the deconstruction of Robotropolis at the paws of Dark was still ongoing.

Due to her uncontrollable rampage, Dark has already destroyed half of the city. In her madness, she saw all the buildings as her enemies. She didn't notice a blue blur speeding underneath her, zooming through the remains of the city, ducking and diving around the falling debris.

"Whoops! You missed! Try again! Whoa! Missed me! Nyah nyah!" Sonic said, using his incredible speed to dodge the rubble being thrown about by the large monster. "Now, how to battle that thing without the Chaos Emeralds… this'll be tough…"

Sonic started when he saw a figured standing near a crumbling building. His eyes widened. "Oh no… LOOK OUT!!!!!!!"

With a sonic boom, Sonic rushed to the figure and snatched him or her out of the way just as the building collapsed. He kept running until they were far away from the monster and then, judging it to be safe, he put down his rescuee. He glanced back at the giant Dark, sighing. "OK, no more games… I have to take that thing down before it…"

"You will do nothing!" Spoke a harsh voice. Sonic whirled around to see a tall silver fox with eight tails standing beside him. He was the one he had just saved from getting crushed. "I won't let you hurt her!"

Sonic stepped back, keeping his eyes on the fox. "Is any way to speak to someone who just saved your life?" He started when he bumped up against what felt like a wall. He looked behind him to see nothing but thin air. He glanced back at the silver fox. "Lemme guess, an invisible barrier?"

Arcana sneered. "Very good, one-tailed rat… I came down here to help my fellow kitsune after she lost control of her sanity and her powers. I was too busy being concerned for her that I let my guard down… I never expected that I would be saved by the 'former' friend of Miles…"

"FORMER friend?" Sonic repeated, narrowing his eyes.

Arcana smirked. "I thought I should take this opportunity to deal with you while I had the chance. This barrier will not only protect me from the falling debris, but also keep you from escaping."

"Oh, really?" Sonic asked in annoyance, tapping his foot.

"Yes, really… It'll be a pleasure watching you cower in fear as I deal with you personally!" Arcana hissed. "You're going to die, blue rat…"

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Excuse me? Blue rat? I'm a hedgehog. HEDGE… HOG!"

"Hedgehog, rat, you're all the same! Low one-tails like yourself will be dealt with once everything goes to plan! However, you must be eliminated first!" Arcana snapped, pointing at Sonic dramatically. "In order to prevent history from repeating itself, I'll kill you before you betray our leader!!!"

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Meanwhile, in the forest, Pyro and Snow sensed the dark energy radiating from Dark herself while carrying the five Chaos Emeralds they had stolen from Eggman.

"What (BEEP!) the (BEEP!) is (BEEP!) that (BEEP!) ?" Pyro asked slowly. "What (BEEP!) the (BEEP!) is (BEEP!) going (BEEP!) on (BEEP!) here?"

That was when Snow did something shocking, to Pyro anyway. She demonstrated emotion. "Who cares?!? Run first before asking bloody stupid questions!!!! Let's get back home before it comes after us!!! I don't want to be killed with a foul-mouthed fool like you!!!!"

Pyro stared at Snow in amazement. For the first time in all the years he had known Snow, the icy vixen showed emotion! Well, life is full of surprises.… "(BEEP!) me…"

"MOVE!!!!!!!!!!" Snow snapped.

Pyro jumped and started walking even faster. That was two signs of emotion in one day, better not go for three or it's Strike Out for him! Then again, Snow showing emotion… something didn't feel right. But it would be better to think about that later and follow Snow's orders before she lost her patience and killed him horribly.

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Tails was more confused than ever. Not only was he related to the legendary nine-tailed fox, but he was also the fox's VESSEL and HEIR!

"OK…. OK… I really, REALLY have to stop watching those sci-fi shows… this dream is WAY out of control!" Tails said, slapping himself.

The large fox smiled, chuckling at Tails' confusion. "You remind me of myself when I was as young as you, kit. But that's beside the point… I'm here to tell you why we're feared by the single tails… Do you want to listen or not? It's your choice…"

Tails stared at him. He suddenly remembered that because of this very fox standing before him, many people in Knothole had begun to distrust him and thought he was a demon. Of course, he had been called a freak and a weirdo and gotten bullied before because he was born with two tails, but still, that really hurt.

Then, he remembered that there were two sides to every story, like Shadow, Black Doom and the Space Colony ARK. He didn't want to be prejudiced like the others in Knothole. He should hear this guy's side of the story first before passing judgment.

"Tell me…" Tails said. "Because I should hear what your story is about. I don't want to give up in fear and hatred like everyone back home... Tell me the story of the Kitsunes…"

The fox smiled. "You're much wiser than I thought, young kit. I am Arashi, the legendary Nine-tailed Biju Lord and leader of the Kitsunes. This is the story of what happened 3000 years ago…"

Tails smiled and listened with interest. He was very intelligent and enjoyed learning about history.

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Back in Robotropolis, Eggman was finally fighting back by sending his to attack the monster Dark. However, robots' attacks were useless due to her black flames.

Eggman was keeping things calm…

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!" Eggman yelled in fury. "IS THERE NO (BEEP!) WAY OF STOPPING THAT (BEEP!) THING?!?!"

The skeleton fox looked up at him and snarled.

Eggman sweatdropped. "Oh, (BEEP!)… Hi, can we be friends?"

The skeleton fox simply whacked Eggman with one of her tails, knocking him far away.

"GUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOOK LIKE I'M BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!"

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The villagers of Knothole were very worried about their own chances after witnessing Eggman's defeat...except for Rotor, that is.

"Oh, come on… that's not new…" Rotor said.

"Rotor, Eggman just…" Sally started.

Rotor nodded. "I know, Sally… but have you forgotten that this is Dr Eggman?"

Sally was silent for a moment. "Very good point, Rotor…"

"If that's true, how come we haven't beaten Eggman for good?" Bunnie asked.

"Maybe because we aren't giant monsters that have turned against him?" Antoine asked. "I mean, that always happens to him. Perfect Chaos, the Biolizard…"

Sally sighed. "Also a good point…"

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"I get no (BEEP!) respect…" Eggman grumbled.

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Dark roared in victory. However, her victory roar soon changed into a howl of bloodlust, as she aimed a red beam of destruction at Knothole Forest. The beam shot through the air...

...And struck a wall of sand that abruptly appeared out of nowhere.

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Sally blinked. "Sand…? Where on earth…?"

"Sally!" Bunnie said, pointing to the sand wall. "Look! The sand is changing shape!"

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Dark growled in anger as the sand slowly transformed into a giant fox with seven tails and a dark green glow shining from his forehead.

"So… this is the power of the Master Emerald, hmm?" The sand fox muttered to himself. He looked up at Dark, narrowing his eyes, "Dark, stop! It's me, Suna. Please, listen to reason…."

Dark just hissed and attacked Suna. With no other choice, Suna had to fight back against Dark until Arcana could arrive with Tails to help him wake their lost friend up.

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Meanwhile, Luna watched the chaos from a bridge. "Suna, D…Dark…" She knelt to her knees, praying. "Inari, Goddess Mother of the Kitsunes… Please, don't let my precious friends get hurt…"

(CRACK!)

Luna blinked and looked down to see the bridge starting to break up beneath her. "What!? Why is it-"

She saw a sign hanging against the bridge, which she had not noticed before. "THIS BRIDGE IS SERIOUSLY WEAK. DO NOT CROSS OVER IT. By the order of Princess Sally Acorn."

Luna sweatdropped. "Oh…" With no other choice, she quickly ran to the other side of the bridge…

But never made it, as the bridge abruptly fell apart and sent her crashing down to the raging river below. "DAAAAAAAAAAARK!!!!!"

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"This is the one who was called the Red Lightning, Dash!" Arashi said, bringing up an image of a hedgehog.. "The King of a Mobian Country 3000 years ago!"

Tails the picture of Dash. He looked a lot like Sonic--then again, a lot of hedgehogs looked like Sonic--except that he was wearing armored boots, gold bracelets, a headband and a sword. He was also red with brown eyes.

"Dash…" Tails whispered.

Arashi nodded. "Yes. Our friendship began when he challenged me to a race. It was exhausting and hard work, but in the end, it was a draw."

Tails snickered. "I bet your pride was hurt if it ended as a draw. If I know Sonic, he would hate it if his race would hate to tie with anyone in a race."

Arashi scratched his head. "Yes, my pride was hurting a little, but I kind of thought it was funny. As for Dash, even though he was an arrogant fool, he was the very first single-tail not to fear me. He respected me for who I am…" He lowered his head in sadness. "Tha… That's what I thought about him, anyway."

"Why did the single tails fear you?" Tails asked.

Arashi gritted his teeth. "Because of him…" He snapped his fingers to bring up the image of a fat raccoon with a psychotic expression.

Tails shuddered, although had seen worse...like Amy with her giant mallet whenever Sonic managed to give her the slip.

"So, why are you showing me Eggman?" Tails asked.

Arashi chuckled. "That isn't Robotnik, my dear kit. This is Shukaku, the tanuki.."

"A tunic?" Tails repeated.

Arashi sweatdropped. "No, tanuki. It means raccoon-dog…"

"Oh…" Tails blushed.

"Shukaku is the One-Tailed Biju Lord, leader of his Raccoon-Dog clan…" Arashi explained. "However, our of the nine, he was the most bloodthirsty Biju Lord EVER!"

Tails tried to think of a witty reply, but failed. "Darn…"

The image changed again and Tails gasped in horror. The images were of Shukaku killing countless innocent animals that stood in his way. Compared to this monster, Shadow's 'father', Black Doom, looked like a saint! Two more images were shown of Shukaku… one of them showed Arashi thrusting his fist into Shukaku's chest and ripping out his heart, while the other one was of Shukaku's loyal Raccoon-Dog army running away in fright.

"I despised Shukaku for how he abused and disrespected life, so I fought and killed him… that was when the other single tails started to fear the other multi-tailed clans…" Arashi explained. "Great power can turn anyone with a closed mind to fear us. However, King Dash had an open mind…." His voice turned sad again. "He even told me once that just because I had great power didn't make me evil. I was… I was so happy when he said that to me…"

"What happened…?" Tails whispered.

"He betrayed me…" Arashi whispered, gritting his teeth in fury. "He used MY trust to kill MY people!"

"Are you sure it was Dash?" Tails asked.

Arashi nodded. "Yes, I'm VERY sure. All the people that died by his hands had his scent on them…"

The image changed once again to show a huge battlefield. On one side was Arashi in his massive Kyuubi form. On the other side was Dash, gripping a sword that glowed with pure white energy. They both charged at each other, joining in a battle of life and death. Tails was horrified as he watched the battle end with Arashi's giant claws slicing Dash in half… and Dash's sword piercing the giant kyuubi through the heart.

Arashi glanced at Tails. "Listen to me, kit. You must stay away from the single-tails. I hate the idea that you might end up hurt like me…"

Tails was silent for a moment, before looking at his feet. "I'm sorry that Dash betrayed you, but Sonic…. Sonic would never-"

Suddenly, both Tails and Arashi felt a bloodthirsty sensation flowing through them. It was a huge surge of dark energy that forced Tails to wake up.

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Awakening, Tails sat up, feeling a strong, deadly aura flowing through his body. He had never felt this before in his life! The dark aura was so powerful; it was giving him chills. He glanced at the direction of Robotropolis, seeing smoke rising from the twisted city's metal spires. "What's going on?"

_So, you can feel this energy too?_ Said a familiar voice in his head.

Tails reacted calmly.

"AHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Tails screamed. He glanced around. "Who's there?!" He paused. "Arashi!?"

Arashi's voice sighed. _I'll explain everything later, kit. Right now we need to find out what's going on. Focus all your energy into your eyes._

Tails shrugged. "I hate to tell you this, Arashi, sir, but, I'm not sure I should trust you, not after what you told me about you and Dash…" Another explosion shook Robotropolis. "Never mind, got more important things to worry about…" He closed his eyes and focused. When he opened them again, his eyes were no longer light blue, but golden. He blinked in surprise.

"Wow… I can see everything up close…" Tails muttered. He glanced at Robotropolis and paled. "Oh my…" He saw, as if through super-zoom binoculars, a giant, flaming skeletal monster fighting against a giant seven-tailed fox made out of sand.

"Wha…? What's going on here?!" Tails cried in alarm.

_I can sense the fox's power…"_ Arashi's voice whispered. _She's a vixen, and evolving too fast! She's losing her sanity!_

Tails gulped. "What do you mean…?"

_This vixen wasn't ready to have this kind of power all at once! We have to stop her before she destroys everything_! Arashi explained. _In order to do so, you must evolve to your seven-tailed stage!_

Tails sweatdropped. "HOLD IT!!! Have you lost your sanity, too?! I'm already at my THIRD-tailed stage! You said she's losing her sanity because she has too much power to control, right?! What happens if the same thing happens to me!?" He paused. "Although, I've lost a lot of sanity already because of you and those foxes…" He sighed. "I shouldn't have run away from Sonic……"

Arashi chuckled. _No worries… I will help you and make sure you don't lose your sanity, kit…_

Tails sweatdropped again. "I'm going to regret this, aren't I…?" His entire body was engulfed in a red aura. He hugged himself in pain and started screaming. "I ALREADY AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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Sonic tapped his foot impatiently, glaring at Arcana as they stood in the middle of the ruined Robotropolis, protected by the force field created by Arcana himself.

"So….. why Tails?" Sonic asked. "I don't know what you guys are planning to do with him, but I won't let you hurt him anymore!"

Arcana sneered. "That's where you're mistaken, hedgehog… We're saving him from betrayal… We're saving him from you!"

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "Saving him from betrayal!?"

"Yes… aren't any of his 'friends' starting to distrust him…?" Arcana asked.

Sonic paused. He didn't want to admit it, but Sally and everyone else had starting to distrust Tails after he grew a third tail. This reminded them of an ancient war between the single-tails and multi-tailed foxes that occurred 3000 years ago.

Sonic shook his head. "Give me a break! I would never betray Tails! He's been my best friend for years!"

Arcana nearly snapped. "THAT'S WHAT THAT DAMNED BLOODY SINGLE-TAILED DASH SAID TO LORD ARASHI 3000 YEARS AGO!!!!!!!! I WAS THERE WHEN THEY FOUGHT AND KILLED EACH OTHER!!!!!!!"

Sonic stared at Arcana. "Wait… you were at the battle?! No way… I thought Shadow was immortal, but the life expectancy of your kind must be incredible!"

Arcana smirked. "Each time we grow a tail, our lifespan grows as well… I still have 7000 years left to live…"

Sonic shook his head. "Riiiiight… Anyway, if you care about Tails so much, why are you hurting him like this?"

Arcana sneered. "I do care about him! But, sooner or later, Tails WILL come with us where he belongs! To his clan! Another member of our clan, Suna, was like Tails before I found him! He suffered a lot because of what he had in his veins! If I hadn't found him, he…" He clenched his fists, ground his teeth, and squeezed his eyes shut. "I DON'T WANT TAILS-SAMA TO SUFFER LIKE SUNA AND ARASHI-SAMA!!!!"

Sonic shook his head. "And do you think Tails will join your side after you've killed the friends that still believe in him? That won't work!"

Arcana frowned. "He'll come with us! He will!"

"Well, can I ask you something… Do you guys reward good deeds? Such as, if someone saved your life, would you have to give them something?" Sonic asked.

Arcana blinked. "Re…Rewards? Erm… yes…. It's a law Arashi-sama made after becoming friends with that foolish Dash that all of us must follow. Like it or not, if we're rescued by anyone, even a single-tail, from a life-threatening situation, we must reward the person who…" He sweatdropped. "Oh, bloody hell…"

Sonic grinned. "I saved your life, so you owe me!"

Arcana gritted his teeth. "If you think I'll spare you or agree to leave Tails alone, you can forget it!"

"Fine, that leaves me with option 3…" Sonic muttered.

"And that is?" Arcana asked.

Sonic grinned. "You were around during the war, right? Which means, you remember every detail of what happened before and after it?"

Arcana was losing his patience. "Yes, what of it?"

Sonic shrugged. "Well, we all know Arashi the great nine-tails is the strongest of the 9 biju lords. As the strongest, he must have a lot of enemies."

The fox nodded. "That's correct, but no one dared to face him eye to eye," said Arcana. "Arashi-sama was very powerful, which was one of the reasons he was called a demon by the single-tails ever since he killed Shukaku. The funny thing was that Shukaku was a single tail and a very bloodthirsty monster, which is why Arashi killed him. If anyone should've been called a demon, it would be Shukaku. Arashi-sama did the world a big favor by killing him."

"OK, let's just think about this, then…" Started Sonic. " What if one of Arashi's enemies didn't want to face him, but used the friendship he had with Dash to make this war between the single tails and the multiple tails? I'm sure that one of Arashi's enemies could have been clever enough to do something like that."

Arcana and snarled at Sonic. "What is your point!? What do you want?!"

"What I want is for you to calm down and think things through!" Sonic snapped. "You're blinded by anger! I knew something sounded wrong about this war, how a friendship that strong could turn so badly that fast!"

Arcana shook his head. "You're not making any sense!"

"Well, I'm just thinking that this might be like the hidden history of Shadow, Black Doom and the Space Colony ARK!" Sonic retorted. "I mean, there has to be another side to this story! What if you're being used?!"

"WHAT?! Don't be ridiculous!" Arcana snapped. "We are the Biju! We have our pride! No one can use us for their own gain!"

Sonic smirked. "I know… It's your pride that's preventing you from finding out if you're being used or not. Like I said, between all of Arashi's enemies, there must have someone who might have been able to start this war."

"ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Arcana screamed, hovering into the air. "Sonic the Hedgehog, the time for talking is over! I'm going to make sure Tails-sama comes back to his true home and YOU won't stop us!" The silver fox closed his eyes and started to make a lot of hand signs. When he opened his eyes again, he glared down coldly at Sonic. "Goodbye, hedgehog…"

Sonic rubbed his head. "You've got to think about this! Otherwise, your anger will lead you to your down-FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Arcana glared at the portal he had opened up underneath Sonic, then closed it. "Farewell…" He snapped his fingers and the barrier vanished. "That's the best I can do for now…"

"_A-r-shi, y-u b—a! I s—ar that t-is wi-l.._"

"_B- si—ent! My f—end-hip –s no…"_

Arcana grabbed his head in pain. "GRAH!!! I should have dealt with that hedgehog earlier!" He blinked. "But, why do I have this memory…? How long have I locked it away? What's it about?"

He stared at the ground, narrowing his eyes. "What if…what Sonic said was true? What if I was being…."

Then, he gasped as he sensed a familiar power. He glanced around before looking at the battlefield where Dark and Suna were.

"C-Could it be…?"

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Meanwhile, the battle between Suna and Dark was still ongoing. And things weren't looking good for Suna. He was getting tired, and even though he has a piece of the Master Emerald embedded in his sandy forehead, he couldn't hold on for much longer…

"Inari – Goddess of Kitsunes…" Suna prayed. "If you can hear me, please grant me a miracle…help me save her…"

Suddenly, Dark started to howl like mad as ice crystals started covering her body. With a yelp, she stood still as her body was frozen solid.

Suna blinked. "That was quick, Inari-sama. Could you do the same thing to Pyro, while you're at it, or is that asking for too much?"

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Back in Knothole, everyone was confused as to how a giant skeleton fox was frozen with such ease.

Bunnie scratched her head. "What just happened there?"

Sally shook her head. "I… I dunno…"

Antoine was pulling Rotor's arm. "Can you see anything yet!?"

"Hold on a second…" Rotor said, looking through a pair of binoculars. He put them down and blinked in surprise. "Oh boy…"

"What is it now, Rotor?" Sally asked.

Rotor handed Sally the binoculars. "Someone is approaching the giant foxes, and you'll never believe who it is…"

Sally shook her head as she looked through the binoculars. "Rotor, we've seen many things that are out of the ordinary. What makes you think…" She paused. "I don't believe it…"

"Told you…" Rotor muttered.

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Suna blinked in astonishment as he was approached by a tall, seven-tailed fox that was floating through the air. He knew at once who it was. "Tails-sama!"

Tails nodded. "Yes, that's right. And you are…?"

Suna blinked in shock. He had heard that Tails had only evolved to his third-tailed stage. And now, here he was, already in his seventh tailed stage, with his sanity intact He shook his head in amazement. "I…I'm Suna…"

"Suna, what's going on here?" Tails asked.

Suna sighed. "It's Dark… The power of Nekomata and her rapid evolution has caused her to be like this…"

"D…Dark!?" Tails gasped. He glanced at the frozen vixen. He never thought that Dark would turn into something like this.

_So…. THAT'S how she ended up like this…_ Arashi muttered. Tails stared at Dark sadly. Even though he didn't know her that well, he knew he had to help Dark before she could break free. Question was, what could he do? _Kit, I have an idea…_ Arashi said.

Tails sweatdropped. "If this involves me evolving again, forget it…"

Suna blinked. "Erm… Tails-sama?"

_Kit… just listen!_ Arashi snapped. Then he explained his plan. _OK now?_

Tails nodded, glancing at Suna. "Can you do me a favor? Take care of my body while we're gone…"

"Erm, what?" Suna asked in confusion. "What do you mean 'we'?"

Rather than replying, Tails peformed some hand signals and suddenly went limp. Suna quickly reached out and grabbed Tails' body before he hit the ground.

"Tails-sama?" Suna asked. He sighed when there was no response. "I see… a Mind Transfer Technique… Very impressive…" He glanced at the frozen Dark. "I hope he'll be all right. There's no way to know what's inside Dark's mind… especially now that she's gone mad…"

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Tails and Arashi arrived in Dark's mind. Tails glanced around in shock as he noticed their surroundings. It was black and creepy, almost like a graveyard…

"No surprise here… she's a necromancer, so her soul room is shaped like a graveyard…" Arashi said, rubbing his head.

Tails sighed. "I was hoping we had missed Dark's mind and somehow ended up in Amy's room…" He looked around. "So, now what?"

"Simple, kit! We find Dark and wake her up!" Arashi said. "That way, her true spirit will regain control of her sanity and return her body back to its original form…"

Tails nodded and walked into the darkness with Arashi. They soon arrived in graveyard and found Dark, asleep in a crystal coffin.

"Ah… Sleeping Beauty…" Arashi said. He blinked. "Hold on, that doesn't work well with Necromancers…"

Tails rubbed his head. "No kiddi…" Suddenly, a bony hand burst out of the ground and grabbed his leg. "AH!!! LET GO!!!" He kicked the hand away.

Slowly, skeletons rose from the graves around them and stared at the two foxes, groaning.

Tails sweatdropped. "Do you think they're related to Eggman… or Rouge?"

Arashi shook his head. "Nah… these bony losers are way better-looking than those two…" He cracked his knuckles. "Anyway, they won't mind when I beat them down. They're already dead… unless they were Necromancers or Liches…"

Tails groaned. "Just get rid of them before I run away…"

Arashi shrugged, performing a simple hand signal. "Fine…." He fired an aura burst that easily destroyed all the skeletons. "There…." He noticed Tails' surprised look. "Hey, I'm a Biju Lord. What did you expect?"

Tails rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, yeah…"

They reached Dark's coffin and stared at her in silence. Arashi coughed nervously. Tails glanced at the elder fox. "So…. Now what? How do we wake her?"

Arashi grinned. "Remember when I called her 'Sleeping Beauty'?"

Tails nodded. "Yeah, but why…" His eyes widened in horror. "You-you want me…to kiss her?!"

"Oh, there's an idea!" Arashi said casually. "Can you?"

"NO, I CAN'T!!!" Tails yelled, blushing bright red. "Why do I need to kiss her?!"

"Welllllllll, the only way to restore her sanity is by waking her up. She's only become like this due to Nekomata's energy. We need to purify this energy using your energy spirit!" Arashi explained. "And in order to do that, you have to kiss her…"

"You're just being a matchmaker, aren't you?!?" Tails yelled, pointing at the Biju Lord.

Arashi shook his head. "Just kiss her already…"

"Why don't YOU kiss her?!" Tails retorted. "You're the 'almighty fox' around here!"

Arashi rolled his eyes. "Hello! I'm a 3000-year-old fox with a respectable reputation in my clan! I do NOT want to be known as a pedophile!"

Tails stared at Arashi. "But, you… But, I… You… She…. He… Oh, forget it…" He facefaulted.

Arashi smirked. "Besides, I'm only telling you to kiss her… You don't have to have sex or anything…"

"WILL YOU BE QUIET?!?!" Tails yelled, wielding a large mallet threateningly.

Arashi sweatdropped. "Ah…I see you've learned the legendary art of pulling things out of hammerspace, kit…well done."

"JUST STOP MESSING WITH MY MIND OR ELSE I'LL MESS YOUR HEAD UP!!!" Tails yelled.

Arashi nodded frantically. "OK, OK… Yeesh, you don't threaten Sonic with a hammer…."

"But, he doesn't tease me about girls!" Tails replied. "Yet!"

Arashi cringed. "Good point…"

Tails sighed. "OK, OK… It'd be better to kiss her now before Captain Perverted Big Mouth says something else…"

"Great… a title to be proud of…" Arashi muttered sarcastically.

Tails got closer to Dark's face. He had to admit that the dark vixen looked very beautiful in her deep sleep, even though she was very tomboyish. His heart was pumping fast and his face was red as a tomato. He found himself paralyzed with fright, unable to either move closer or back away.

Arashi rubbed his head and sighed. Tails was taking an awfully long time just to give a girl a kiss. So, he decided to take things into his own hands. He 'casually' walked over to Tails and 'accidentally' bumped into him, causing Tails to fall inside the coffin and KISS Dark right on the lips!

"It worked!" Arashi said triumphantly, peering inside the coffin.

Dark's eyes flew open, surprised by the kiss she was getting. However, she was also surprised by where Tails' hands had landed…her breasts!

Arashi sweatdropped. "Oh, damn… I'm so going to get a headache from this…"

"WHAT THE HELL?!?!!?" Dark screamed.

Before anything could happen, and before Dark could violently murder them, Arashi and Tails vanished.

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Back in the real world, the ice surrounding Dark's body had vanished, along with her monster form. She had returned into her original self, with the addition of having EIGHT tails instead of FIVE. She was on her knees, looking very tired.

"Dark…" spoke a familiar voice.

Dark turned around to see Suna returning to his original form, hiding the Master Emerald shard in one of his tails. He was helping Tails to stand up. Darks' eyes widened. "Suna… Tails?!"

Tails grinned. "Welcome back, Dark…"

Dark looked about, horrified as she saw the destruction she had caused. "Did…did I do this…?"

Suna shook his head. "It's not your fault, Dark… You evolved too fast. Your body and mind weren't ready for this much power…"

Dark looked down. "But, but I…"

"Suna is right, Dark! And you know it!" Came another voice, one that was new to Tails. Everyone turned around to see Arcana. Tails was shocked to see a silver, eight-tailed fox walking towards them, yet he had the feeling he had met this guy before, and he was an old friend that he hadn't seen for a long time.

Arcana bowed before Tails. "And Tails-sama, thank you for waking Dark up before she could destroy the entire world… Now, excuse me…" He drew a type of transmutation circle in the ground with his finger, confusing Tails completely. Arcana then clapped his hands and placed them in the circle.

There was a blinding flash and in a matter of seconds, all the buildings in Robotropolis were restored, like they hadn't even been destroyed in the first place.

"Whoa! Incredible!" Tails gasped.

Arcana coughed. "Now, Tails-sama… I'm curious about something…the last we heard of you, you were in your 3-tailed stage. But, now… you're in your SEVEN-Tailed stage. How were you able to retain your sanity after evolving four stages that quickly?"

Tails scratched the back of his head. "I had some help… from Arashi…"

Suna, Dark and Arcana gasped. "Arashi?!!?"

"That's…impossible!" Suna whispered.

Dark shook her head. "No…no, it's not, now that I think of it…Arashi is still with us…" She narrowed her eyes. "And he's a pervert who will DIE if he ever does something like that to me again!" Both Tails and Arcana swallowed in fright.

Arcana closed his eyes. "Tails-sama, can I… speak to him… once more please?"

Tails shook his head. "Can't… he's busy at the moment…"

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Arashi whimpered as he hid underneath his throne. "As long as I stay down here, she'll never find me and do necromantic things to me…" He had just been showing off for Tails when he got rid of the skeletons in Dark's mind, to be totally honest, undead things scared the bejeezus out of him, and the less he saw of them, the better.

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"Tails?" called a timid voice.

Tails turned around to see… "Cream?" He glanced at Arcana. "Can I speak to her alone?"

Arcana looked at the small, quivering rabbit, and sighed. He nodded. "Of course… I'll be busy helping Suna and Dark with their wounds…"

Tails nodded and took Cream out of hearing distance of the kitsunes. "Cream, what are you doing here?"

"Tails, we all saw the fight!" Cream said. "I thought you were amazing, but Sally and the others…"

Tails sighed. He knew what Cream was going to say. It looked like the other Freedom Fighters had now officially given up on him and didn't want him around anymore, especially after how he had stopped Dark.

At least Cream believed in him and…. Tails blinked. "Where's Sonic?"

Cream sighed. "I… I don't know… I thought he was around here. I thought he would fight that giant skeleton monster, but…"

Tails closed his eyes. Either Sonic had ran away, which wasn't his style, or he was killed by Dark's skeleton form, which was also unlikely. Something else must have happened to him, and Tails hopes that he was okay. No matter what Arashi said, he still believed in Sonic. However… he couldn't face Sonic and the others anymore…

Tails turned around to face the other kitsunes. "Cream… if you see Sonic… tell him that I'm sorry…"

"Sorry? What do you mean?!" Cream asked as Tails walked away. "Tails!!!"

Tails ignored Cream as he joined the other kitsunes. He stared at Arcana with regret and sadness in his eyes. "I… want to go away…"

Arcana smiled sadly. "As you wish… We can return home now. Everyone… is expecting you, Tails-sama…" He sighed. _And maybe I can do something that I should have done 3000 years ago, search for an answer for these sleeping memories…_

"Tails, STOP!!!" Cream cried before she was blinded by a flash light. When the light was gone, Tails and the kitsunes were gone. She fell to her knees and began to cry. "Tails… no…"

"Cream?" inquired a familiar voice. Cream looked up to see Rouge landing beside her. "Cream, what happened?"

Cream just sobbed and hugged Rouge tightly. The stunned bat could do nothing but hug the rabbit back. She glanced at her silent partner in confusion. Shadow stood nearby, clenching his fist in frustration. "They have him…"

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Meanwhile, in an old junkyard far away from Knothole and Robotropolis was a little skunk wearing blue pants and a red cap and carrying a telescope. "Man, I wonder what happened at Robotropolis… Sensei seemed pretty nervous before he calmed down… I wonder what he meant about dark energy…"

He looked up and smiled at the night sky, gazing at the moon and the stars. In three days' time, there would be a full moon followed by a rare phenomenon… a lunar eclipse.

"Oooooh… can't wait, can't wait…" Said the child skunk, cleaning his telescope. He blinked as he saw something floating in the river beside the junkyard. It was an unconscious person, being carried along the river on a piece of driftwood.

"YIKES!!!" Cried the skunk, rushing over to the water and dragging the poor creature out before anything else could happen. As soon as he pulled her onto dry land, he gasped. The wet and bedraggled creature he had just rescued was a very young female black vixen with two tails and a moon-shaped mark on her forehead.

The skunk had just saved Luna…

"A kitsune! Wow! I gotta show her to Sensei! He'll find this very interesting!" the skunk cried ecstatically, carrying Luna in his arms and running through the junkyard to the hidden lair in which his master dwelled.

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Somewhere else, Sonic opened his eyes. He groaned held his head. "Oh boy…that silver fox sure had a grudge… Did Dash really do it or…?" He blinked and looked around. "Hold on, where am I?"

It took a while for Sonic to realize that he was in some sort of bubble…. DEEP in the ocean!

"Brothers, look! He's woken up!" a bubbly voice cried gleefully.

Sonic turned around to see three sharks smiling hungrily at him. Each of the sharks was wearing armor that looked to be made out of coral.

Sonic sighed. "Great…stuck in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by monsters that want to eat me…what else is new?"

To be continued…

A/N: There is the chapter 6. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I did on writing it.

Once more I wanna thank to Ninetailsuk and Jeremy Band for beta write the chapter. You guys rules. Now as for my contest of the Oc character that will befriend of Luna. The winner is Daisuke! Congratulations Kilatails! Daisuke will be the one to show up in the story.

Next chapter we will lean more about the biju lords and Sonic will meet in person a biju lord himself. See ya you guys in the next chapter!


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